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Stjepan Juras - Killers

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Stjepan Juras - Killers

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ramon9319
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CHECK MY OTHER BOOKS

ON WWW.MAIDENCROATIA.COM
CERTIFICATE
This book is unique, one of a kind
and printed in one copy only!
Proud owner is:
Serial book number is written on rear cover:

Confirming this information with my signature:

STJEPAN JURAS
Stjepan Juras
KILLERS

Translation, adaptation and proof-reading


Ana Marija Abramović
Cover design and illustration
Violeta Juras
Layout
Stjepan Juras
Print
ITG d.o.o., Zagreb

Copyright © Stjepan Juras 2021


Published by Stjepan Juras. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication (pictures, photos illustrations and graphics are


excluded) may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Permissions may be sought directly from Stjepan Juras in his office in Zadar,
Croatia: phone: 00385(0)99 4186 308, e-mail: fanclub@maidencroatia.com

Cataloguing-in-Publication data available in the Online Catalogue of the


Research Library in Zadar under CIP record 151111012

ISBN 978-953-48280-3-8

For information on all Stjepan Juras publications please


visit his website at www.maidencroatia.com

Printed in Croatia
Zagreb, May 2021
STJEPAN JURAS

Zadar, May 2021


TABLE OF CONTENTS
DANGER FROM THE EAST 9
MEET YOUR KILLERS 23
H&M 41
1981 53
HEADMASTER'S MASTERWORK 77
DETAILS OF TWILIGHT ZONE 91
IN THE SHADOW OF E. A. POE 105
STORY BEHIND THE 'RUE MORGUE' SONG 115
KILLER BEHIND YOU 118
THE IDES OF MARCH MISTERY 124
A MONSTER WITH AN AX 137
MAIDEN JAPAN 167
KILLER WORLD TOUR 171
GOLDEN YEARS OF MERCH 203
KILLER KREW 233
I'M COMING TO GET YOU 245
PHOTO CREDITS 254
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 255
WARNING!
Fantastic Iron Maiden fan websites such as Ironmaidencommentary,
Maidencroatia, Maidenlive, Maidenfans, Maidenrevelations, Ironmaiden-bg,
ironmaiden666, Maidenthebeast, MaidenSpainFC various other fan websites
and all their contributors deserve utmost hats down for all they did to
preserve the great legacy of Iron Maiden for all future generations. Iron
Maiden would have NEVER been so massive if there were no loyal fans willing
to spend months and years exploring all aspects of this amazing band's
history. As an author, they ALL have my immense gratitude for making it quite
easy for me to find certain facts, old interviews, lost photographs and other
bits and pieces all of which helped to make this book. However, 'Killers' is not,
nor was it initially intended to become an official printed document which
would unite all of this trivia and priceless knowledge. If that was the case, I
could not nor would I want to call this book my original piece. This book is a
series of exclusive observations, cross-references and brave speculations
while delving into the most hidden secrets and motives behind Maiden's
album 'Killers', thoroughly discussed from all points of view, considering all
the selected segments that could have affected the creation of the album.
Given that forty years have passed since 'Killers' came out, I tried to give it a
cool-headed evaluation it clearly deserved, while taking into consideration
both its strengths and weaknesses. Here you will find a large number of new
theses and speculations never heard before, sometimes even shocking
conclusions, while some old puzzles will be uncovered for the very first time.
I am convinced that this piece will be the harbinger of discussion and
controversy, quite possibly dismissing some of the statements given in this
book, but my answer to that is simple. I'm a fan, and this book is the content
of my direct observations of the album. This is my tribute to it, for it
introduced me to the epic world of Iron Maiden, a world without which my
life would surely be dramatically different. So here's to a happy fortieth
birthday 'Killers'!

STJEPAN JURAS
JUST ONE WORD
When it comes to bands and performers, various book authors try hard to
make their audience believe that while they aren't in possession of the official
product, they are buying something equally legit. The use of misleading PR is
common, trying to lure people into thinking they are actually paying for some
of the exclusive and never before seen materials seeping with deep insider
info about to shake the foundation of everything they believed they knew
about their favorite band or performer.

But what if all this is unimportant to the fans and they want a peek at something
much better hidden – the very heart and soul of this album, underestimated in so
many ways? Just one word, loud and clear... 'Killers'! The first and only Iron
Maiden album with just one (real) word in the title, a word that describes it in
every way. A killer album, killer sound, a killer tour, the Killer Krew... And a
grinning monster beneath the yellow light of a street lamp, a bloody axe in his
hand and a dying victim - brutal, clear and unbelievably inviting. A band who had
attempted to get their big break into the world of big names, their debut album
released just a year earlier, was now heading off on a world tour with a release
penned almost in its entirety by Steve Harris. Joined by their new producer,
Martin Birch, anyone who understands anything about the history and
development of hard rock & heavy metal could clearly see: a metal giant was born!

It’s hard to write about this album with a cool head an unemotionally. That is why
I’m proud to conclude: this is not an official book, nor is it intended to act as such,
it does not feature insider info, and neither is it trying to pile up all of the available
Wiki and Maiden-related fan sites info. It was not written encyclopedically,
factually, statistically, it’s not trying to create a timeline of all the shows, bootlegs,
various editions, awards, interviews and everything else. This book is a piece of
my soul, a story of an album that forever changed the music world, defined the
sound of heavy metal and created the prototype of a full-blooded metal band.
Although the media weren’t well-disposed towards it, the lads didn’t let that bring
them down for a moment in their intention to conquer the world. To this day,
‘Killers’ stands strong and proud, a monument to a time when ‘working class’ lads
had the courage and impudence to throw down the gauntlet before anyone!
This book is dedicated to:

John Duffus 1956-2020. Iron Maiden Superfan, my loyal friend and work
colleague and one of the nicest people you could meet. I first met John in 1974,
when we worked at British Telecom, and we became firm friends, in fact it was
through him that I got into serious rock music. We both discovered Iron
Maiden when we wandered into a performance at The Cart and Horses on a
Friday night in September 1976. The band were playing Transylvania which
started the second half of their set. We watched the rest of the show and liking
what we saw and heard, decided to go back there and see the full set the
following week. After that it became a Friday night ritual for us to see Maiden
and then on other days as they began to play more shows at different venues.
Maiden clearly something which made them stand out from other bands, the
set was mostly their own songs, there was the showmanship - such as the
Prowler mask, the sword and blood capsules Dennis the singer used during
Iron Maiden and a home made light show. Of course, turning up so many
shows, the Band came to know us and became friends. The rest is history, Iron
Maiden became one of the biggest rock bands ever, and over the years John
and I went to countless gigs. In 1980, when Iron Maiden FC came into being
there was only one choice as to who should be FC member #0001. Other than
Maiden, Johns other main interests were the pub, and of course his beloved
West Ham United. Sadly, we lost contact for a few years after I had moved to
the US, but had recently reconnected when he passed. It was major blow, to
his immediate family, myself and all in the wider Maiden family that had
known him or known of him. RIP old friend wherever you may be.

Keith Wilfort, March 2021.


DANGER FROM THE EAST
“When you get to Leytonstone Tube station and out the back, you’ll see a
small car park and a bus stop. Call me or send a message and I’ll be there in a
few minutes,” instructed Mimi Burr when I first decided to visit the home, she
shared with Maiden’s legendary late drummer Clive Burr, some fifteen years
ago. I sat there, on a bench behind this small, picturesque Tube station and
observed my surroundings. The small square is dominated by an interesting
monument that looks like a cluster of London buses, and as I waited for Mimi
to pick me up, I watched this idyllic, peaceful, typically East London scenery.

Some ten years later, the focus of the world’s media was on the dramatic
news of a terrorist attack at that very Tube station, Leytonstone, that had
looked so calm any idyllic to me, so London-ish, as I sat there waiting for Mimi,
imagining a young Steve Harris and the rest of the lads spending time
together, heading to rehearsals, dragging guitar cases and dreaming of one
day maybe becoming a leading East London demo band. Forty years later, in
2015, the terror attack occurred, summed up by the media:

“On 5 December 2015, a man armed with what was described as a blunt 3-
inch (7.5 cm) bread knife attacked three people at Leytonstone Underground
station in East London. One of the three victims was seriously injured, and the
other two sustained minor stab wounds. The attacker was named as 29-year-
old Muhaydin Mire of Leytonstone, who was found guilty of attempted
murder in June 2016. After originally being classed as terrorism, the
classification was later removed after the investigation concluded that the
main motive was mental illness, albeit inspired by ISIL-propaganda.

In a video of the alleged perpetrator being subdued by police, a bystander


subsequently identified by the first name John shouted, ‘You ain't no Muslim,
bruv. You ain't no Muslim. You're an embarrassment.’ John, whose full name
has not been made public and who is not a Muslim, told The Sunday Times, ‘I
saw the guy. I was like, well you ain't a Muslim... That's my views, and I had
to let him know that.’ He added, ‘People look at Muslims, and look at ISIS, and
think they're all the same. But obviously they're not’.

Consequently, the hashtag #YouAintNoMuslimBruv trended on Twitter,


becoming the top trending topic in the UK on the morning following the
attack. The Guardian noted that it was a ‘perfect riposte to attempts to
spread violence and terror in London’. The Independent stated the ‘phrase has
become a unifying call among people condemning the attack on social
media’. On 7 December, the phrase was repeated by British Prime Minister
David Cameron, who said in a speech, ‘Some of us have dedicated speeches
and media appearances and sound-bites and everything to this subject but
'you ain't no Muslim, bruv' says it all, much better than I ever could and thank
you because that will be applauded all around the country’.

My thoughts jump back to that London afternoon when my contemplation,


imagination and visualising of those mid-Seventies, when I was born myself,
was interrupted by the beeping of a car horn and the infectious smile of the
ever-cheerful Mimi Burr who decided, before taking me to her home to meet
Clive, then already sick, decided to take me for a drive around Leytonstone.
“Look, within a couple of hundred metres, people were born who
permanently changed both London and the United Kingdom. Alfred
Hitchcock, look, he was born over there. One street over, David Beckham.
Legendary cricket player Graham Gooch lived there and Damon Albarn of Blur
over there. Within just a couple of hundred metres you’ve got the birthplaces
of Steve Harris, Paul Di’Anno, and Clive Burr; isn’t it fascinating? So many
famous people in one small place’, Mimi was enthusiastic in the manner of
any small-town inhabitant wanting to impress the occasional traveller. She
spoke with such passion as she drove me around Leytonstone that it was a
joy to listen and watch how much she was enjoying it. But then she continued
in a different tone: “Did you know that Jack the Ripper committed his most
terrible murders in East London, around Whitechapel, and that the final
resting place of his last and youngest victim, Mary Jane Kelly, is here in
Leytonstone, in the Catholic cemetery of St. Patrick?” Mimi wasn’t loath to
take me there and show me the headstone, full of flowers, never dreaming
that she would bring me there again ten years later, to visit Clive.

To me, East London has always been a mysterious place, filling me with awe.
It’s a place filled with history and it’s natural that to young Steve Harris it
served as a polygon to develop his imagination and dreams of one day rising
above everything while staying true to his roots. A young, angry rocker from
the suburbs, a fanatic supported of his local club, West Ham United, today he
is an undisputed legend and thousands upon thousands of people wander the
area each year, from the former Boleyn Ground to the Ruskin Arms, to the
Cart and Horses pub, a place of mythical proportions today.

Iron Maiden quickly became the ‘killers’ of East London, coming straight from
the working class to change the music world significantly and permanently.
With their debut record, they might have been taken for a ‘one album
wonder’, but when shop windows displayed the ominous, yellow, primordial
monster with an axe in its hand, everyone slowly started to catch on to the
fact that Maiden weren’t here to be forgotten. Moreover, Eddie was no
chance selection for the visual of the first album. Even then, it was obvious
that the whole thing had become a spontaneous concept and a story that
would inspire fans the world over, romanticising East London in some ways
as though it were a backdrop for a mystery comic book. Dilapidated façades,
broken brickwork, peeling posters, thrash rolling in the street, fuzzy street
lamps, graffiti, dubious bars and prostitute dives, shadows armed with knives
and broken bottles, and the silhouettes of frightened people peering out from
the curtains of their homes at these dangerous streets from whose darkest
corners ominous laughter can be heard…

Arriving at Stratford, however, ‘the place where it all began’, a traveller who
knows East London only from Iron Maiden’s album covers will be more than
a little surprised by the scene he finds. For many passengers landing at
Stansted Airport, Stratford is their first experience of London, and the
landscape that meets their eye as they leave the bus or the Stansted Express
train is awe-inducing. Skyscrapers rise to dizzy heights on every corner, the
huge Westfield shopping centre busy with thousands of people, from its
terrace we see the magnificent edifice of the Olympic stadium, home today
to West Ham United, and in a few years’ time Stratford will be dominated by
the giant MSG Sphere Arena, the largest and most futuristic arena in the UK.
Just a ten-minute walk will take you out of this futuristic whirlpool, you’ll find
yourself in front of that most mythical location to any Iron Maiden fan: the
Cart and Horses, a small, totally ordinary pub, one like hundreds of others
except for the fact that it is where Maiden’s concert story began. Since those
days and until now, this place has always been a ‘shrine’ to the fans and a
required meeting place before any Iron Maiden London gig, the small streets
surrounding it still capable of taking you on a nostalgia trip to some long ago
times when everything was so different. Looking at this little, crowded pub
from the outside, looking through its window from the inside and observing
the city skyline of the future, the numerous cranes on every building site will
squeeze at the heart of every Maiden fan with the comprehension of the
passing nature of time and the end of an era that still won’t leave our souls,
an era we’ll carry with us to the grave. Those of us who are left are still alive,
Iron Maiden too, as for how long that will last, well, that’s the question…

Once, long ago, local newspaper ads called them ‘rock kings of the East End’,
the very term ‘heavy metal something they didn’t even know existed, let
alone that they would become the synonym for heavy metal in the whole
world. Iron Maiden outgrew the East End quickly, traveling to hundreds of
countries and thousands of cities, many thousand arenas and stadiums, they
entered rock and roll legend… but the East End never left them. They’ve
always been proud of where they come from, where their roots are and what
colours they support. Early Iron Maiden, Steve Harris and Dennis Stratton and
Clive Burr and Paul Di’Anno were West Ham United supporters, with Steve in
particular as the leader taking the band’s connection to the club to a new
level. A great number of Maiden fans the world over have become West Ham
‘warriors’ who readily shout ‘COYI’ although many of them don’t know what
it means or where it comes from.

Let’s go back for a moment to the early 80s, when five young men cast their
eyes on the world, having barged through most of the UK’s clubs not unlike a
freight train. That world was completely different from the world we live in
today. The years passed, and the band remained steady and strong, with ideals
that burned at the start still alive today, in them and in the fans they passed
them to. The streets of London were no longer dangerous because of the punks
and skinheads and various football supporters’ groups. They’d been given a new
dimension of fear, and its terrifying ruler was Eddie. If their debut ‘Iron Maiden’
was the best and fiercest of punk, then with ‘Killers’ Iron Maiden defined their
sound and all that they would become – and it was exactly what rock and roll
needed in that moment; a mixture of rebellious rawness and uncompromising
loudness (the indisputable legacy of punk), pomposity, epicness and virtuosity
(the virtues of prog rock), fierceness, melodic theatrics and mystery (hard rock),
excitement and sex appeal (glam rock), the temerity to just walk into your turf
and become the new bosses – certainly a characteristic of uncompromising
football hooligans… Look at the melody lines of Maiden songs and how they’re
sung by the concert crowds – they are an unmistakeable reminder of the
supporters’ chants we hear from the football stadiums.

In their rush to the top, Maiden didn’t shrink from anyone, nor did they stop
to look how others were doing it. They offered themselves, created something
new and crazy, tempting enough to warrant an invitation to appear on ‘Top of
the Pops’ – and so frightening to the public of the time to be censored.

Many will agree that Black Sabbath are the fathers of heavy metal, and this is
an indisputable claim: they created metal and remain its ambassadors to this
day. For Iron Maiden, people will write that they are the biggest and the best
heavy metal band of all time, but few will note that the best way to describe
Iron Maiden as a genre is – ‘Iron Maiden’. At first glance, the formula is simple:
songs in the key of E, double lead guitars that build harmonies and complement
each other, an angry, piercing vocal, drumming that doesn’t so much play the
rhythm as follow the guitars and a dominant bass guitar that breaks all the
boundaries of a classic bass. Throughout all these years, however, it has
become apparent that this seemingly simple formula is virtually impossible to
copy past a certain extent. Iron Maiden may be heavy metal in a technical sense,
but they are really a genre unto themselves, one that imposed itself on the
world on its own terms and cannot be called anything other than ‘Iron Maiden’.

This wasn’t a status they reached overnight. To define their sound and image
and status, in the early days of their career Maiden had to act swiftly and
precisely, making decisions that sometimes-showed excellent intuition,
sometimes a hefty dose of good luck, and occasionally they would burn their
fingers on their own mistakes. In the period from 1975 to 1979, there was
room for beginners’ mistakes in terms of selecting band members and
searching for themselves, but with the arrival of Rod Smallwood in the team,
a penetrating manager and often a visionary, the ball got rolling quickly and
there was no more margin for error – because Maiden had what they wanted
– not only had they built up a pretty loyal fanbase who gave them
unquestioning support, but they also grabbed the attention of the UK media,
a benefit they had to use wisely. Even at this earliest stage, it is noticeable
that in the so-called demo phase of the band’s career fabrications and stories
were created laying the scene for what was to come. To this day, fans spread
the story that Iron Maiden were founded on Christmas Day 1975, which isn’t
exactly the gospel truth if we look at statements from many people who were
part of the band or around them at the time. But Christmas is an interesting
and unforgettable date, especially when we’re talking about the biggest metal
band in the world, and that story, like many that would follow, is a prime
example of how cleverly planned PR can turn a band into superstars in a short
period of time – provided the band proves they are worthy of the name
through their music and their live performances.

‘Killers’ is an atypical album for a band in many things. An established process


of a band’s beginnings is that before they record their first album a demo
band, no matter how long it’s been around, makes a collection of everything
they’ve done so far, selects the best songs and records them, possibly adding
some new material, and releases the best the band has done in their years of
work. At the very beginning, Iron Maiden never had to climb the stairs of
small, medium and large publisher. Their first album was released for EMI
Records, a giant of a label who were not to be trifled with. But even before
the release of their debut album, Maiden had a terrifying run of almost 150
concerts and at least 20 more had been booked and had to be cancelled when
it was time to enter the studio and record the first albums. Even before
manager Rod Smallwood began working with them, Maiden had a run of
more than 60 concerts, most of them in London. For demo bands today, such
a number is definitely a mission: impossible. But this also tells us another
thing – from the many bootleg recordings that almost every Maiden fan has
access to today, it’s been accepted that Iron Maiden were an author band.
Excepting live covers of their personal idols, which are bound to happen here
and there, Iron Maiden had a fundus of fifteen and more original songs known
to all the metalheads in London, who made sure to spread the word across
the UK, and soon almost all metal fans of the day were aware of them.

In a way, when the first album came out, it was nothing new to those who
were already aware of Maiden and attended their gigs, nothing they hadn’t
known of before or previously heard. It was just a collection of songs they
knew and lover already, and looking at it that way it’s no wonder the band
gained some momentum immediately upon their debut, with subsequent
concerts becoming the most electrified dates of the up and coming New Wave
of British Heavy Metal scene, the fans knowing them all so well. Not only had
Maiden played these songs so many times that everyone knew them
minutely, but the band already had a routine stage procedure for many of
them – like the song ‘Iron Maiden’ – a peak or culmination of the concert,
something that would be discussed for days on end.

What a surprise, then, when the time came to release ‘Killers’? Looking at a
realistically unbelievable run of concerts that Maiden had both before and
after recording the first album, and a tour that lasted literally to the start of
recording the second, they had left themselves little room to devote to
writing new songs. Moreover, Dennis Stratton’s departure just two months
before studio dates were booked and the arrival of newcomer Adrian Smith
cut down potential authorship for new songs to two people: Steve Harris, and
Paul Di’Anno for lyrics. Dave Murray and Clive Burr gave each song their touch
during recording sessions and the mixing process, but it was rare for either to
be listed as the author. Adrian Smith, though an excellent songwriter, had
arrived too late to implement his work into the concept of the upcoming new
album, while on the other hand, Steve Harris wasn’t a fan of Dennis Stratton’s
ideas even while he was in the band, so it would be hard to expect any of
them to remain on the new record after his departure. As Adrian hurriedly
prepared for his presentation and mini tour with the band in late 1980, Harris
equally hurriedly ran through ideas in his head – what to include on the new
album. The band’s multi-year contract with EMI was binding and demanded
a new album every year. Something had to be done, and the only logical
solution was to reach for the old live catalogue, already well known to the
Iron Maiden fans who came to their gigs.

Looking back on the tour that preceded the album, in addition to songs from
the ‘Iron Maiden’ debut release, songs that made the set list on at least a
semi-regular basis were ‘The Ides of March’ (serving as the intro),
‘Wrathchild’, ‘Killers’, ‘Another Life’, ‘Innocent Exile’, ‘Drifter’, ‘I’ve Got the
Fire’, ‘Invasion’, ‘Twilight Zone’, ‘Prodigal Son’, and ‘Floating’ – a primitive
version of the song we know today as ‘Purgatory’. Listening to 1977 bootlegs,
‘Purgatory’ sounds more like reggae mixed with prog rock, but it gives a clear
picture of who Maiden were, where they started, and how what they played
then became what we know today as the ultimate Iron Maiden. Since studio
versions of certain of these songs were already circulating among fans, like
‘Wrathchild’ which could be found on the ‘Metal for Muthas’ compilation, the
release of ‘Killers’ was really nothing new – again – from the perspective of
the fans at the time. There was nothing they hadn’t already heard, but it was
faster, more dynamic, intense, with a clearly defined sound that would
become Maiden’s trademark in the decades to come. It remained so even
past the departure of Martin Birch, the creator of this new sound in which he
combined his experience and knowledge of working with other bands like
Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, etc. Literally everything but two tracks
inserted at the last minute – ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ and the instrumental
‘Genghis Khan’, everything on ‘Killers’ was ‘old news’. Moreover, most of these
songs were created and performed live long before and of those from ‘Iron
Maiden’, and this is why I write that ‘Killers’ is a special album. Instead of a step
forward, development of the band’s creativity and songwriting skills, Iron
Maiden’s second album is in fact a time machine taking us back to the band’s
earliest beginnings; a journey to a time when they were truly young and green
and unable to express themselves as they wanted technically, but still insane
enough to believe in what they were and what they could show the world.

Through this combination of


circumstances, Steve Harris thus
became almost the only author
credited on ‘Killers’, sharing the
credit with Paul Di’Anno on the
title song. This allowed him to
demonstrate his strength as a
writer, proving that even those
early songs like ‘Floating’
(‘Purgatory’) and ‘Wrathchild
weren’t merely ‘OK’ songs but
hits in their own right, one of
which went on to become a
successful single, the other one
of Iron Maiden’s most famous
songs of all time, in spite of never
getting a single release or an
illustration. He proved what an
author can achieve if he believes in himself, and if he reaches for older
material in the right time and the right way, ideas he’d never thrown away or
intended to discard. He also proved that he was more than capable of writing
an entire album on his own and have it come out good enough to almost
reach the Top 10 (it peaked at 12). In comparison with their debut, which
peaked at 4, in a strictly statistical sense it could be argued that the album fell
short. But Iron Maiden had defined a sound not everyone was ready for,
clearly moving away from punk production and iconography, and they were
no longer this small, likeable band from London that was trying new things
and sounding promising. They’d had the audacity to rise powerfully and take
a risk, something that surely earned them enemies who saw them as a danger
and a threat. Media praise for the first album gave way to sharp and
sometimes poisonous reviews, but the band rightly paid them no heed.

They created an image, they created a sound, they built up their fan base, a
merchandising platform, and their story was hears the world over. Such
growth for a band that went from successful club attraction to too big to open
for the legendary likes of Judas Priest, KISS, Rainbow, UFO in less than a year
– almost overnight, imposing themselves as the headliners at concerts and
festivals in Europe and Japan – it couldn’t go unnoticed. They were a true
threat and ‘danger from the East of London’ for many of their rivals at the
time. The first to feel it were obviously Urchin, when Adrian Smith left to join
Maiden, and they lost not only a great guitarist but an excellent vocalist,
composer and lyricist. This should have served as a warning to Samson, who
would have been wise to sign a new contract with Bruce Dickinson, since his
defection to Iron Maiden certainly wasn’t something that happened
overnight. Maiden were in fact very good at covering up problems with band
members on their way out, so their hanging out with Bruce while they were
still recording ‘Killers’ couldn’t have been perceived as dangerous.

The arrival of Adrian Smith and producer Martin Birch certainly helped
Maiden finally define their trademark sound. Bruce Dickinson and Nicko
McBrain later served as the breaking point for Maiden to make a powerful
leap to a whole new level, but their joining wasn’t a key factor in Iron
Maiden’s sound. It was created in 1981, in London’s Battery Studios. The
subsequent release of the live EP ‘Maiden Japan’, recorded during their
headline tour of Japan, was a wise move and quickly silenced and annulled
the difficult situation of the singer leaving the band, while demonstrating
what the band were capable of and what fans could expect from them in the
future. By the time the EP appeared in shops, Bruce Dickinson had already
learned all of Maiden’s songs and, having passed his audition, joined them for
a short presentation tour in Italy and later Great Britain, to prepare the world
for the storm to come. These were the final gigs of the ‘Killers World Tour’
and the dawn of what we would come to call the classic era of Iron Maiden.

‘Killers’ turns 40 in 2021, at the time of writing this book, four decades since
it saw the light of day. It was a pleasure to complete the final sentence on
02/02/2021, the actual anniversary, then played the whole album on repeat
several times, and read the YouTube comments with interest, fans coming
out in force to show once more just how much the album means to them.
One of the comments was ‘Maiden with Bruce has a more epic, symphonic
sound, but Maiden with Paul was straightforward, no prisoners, punky street
rock 'n' roll, really special’. I find it hard to add anything to this short comment.

Digging deep into the themes and roots of this album, I realized that in spite
of the passage of four decades, this sound and this line-up have such a great
number of fanatical followers that, for a moment, I felt unworthy of writing a
book about this album. I almost gave up and quit writing, having become
aware of the sheer pedantry some fans use to note every tiny, seemingly
unimportant fact about this album. Sometimes I think – and I’m probably not
too far from the truth – that more bootlegs were recorded during this tour,
more posters saved, more newspaper clippings, memorabilia, photographs…
because those who favour this album to this day see it as the ‘true’ picture of
what Iron Maiden ‘truly’ are, and how they should sound. It’s not for nothing
that Steve Harris named ‘Killers’ as his favourite Iron Maiden album even as
'The Number of the Beast' preened at Number One. It’s a record where all the
instrumentalists did their absolute best and showed their ability to transfer
100% of the live experience to vinyl. Producer Martin Birch correctly surmised
Iron Maiden’s greatest strength and channelled it magnificently. An
interesting online comment drew my attention when the 2015 remaster was
released: ‘You cannot remaster a masterpiece!’ It’s with that thought that I
invite you to dive into the following pages and the world of an album that
tirelessly kills to this day. ‘Killers’!
Stjepan Juras - Killers

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MEET YOUR KILLERS


Although the story of guitarist Dennis Stratton's departure from the band in
October 1980 technically belongs to the era of the band’s first album, it is in
reality a story that remains in the roots not only of the creation of ‘Killers’ but
also of the band Iron Maiden would truly become – a world institution of metal
and rock that rose above British pubs and small club gigs. Dennis didn’t spend
a long time in the band, barely a year, but he arrived at the right time to record
the first singles and Maiden’s debut album, and as such earned a more
prominent place in the band’s history. Dave Murray, always Steve Harris’s first
choice of guitar player, needed someone who’s melodic playing would be onto
this young, blonde and blue-eyed wild child, who’s experience and acquired
knowledge would rein him in and prevent him from wandering too far from the
set themes, allowing him to develop a feel for joint harmonies, something that
would become an Iron Maiden trademark in the years to come. Born in 1952,
Dennis Stratton was some years older than the other band members, four years
separating him from Dave Murray specifically. At that age, that’s quite a
noticeable difference. Any suggestion was certainly welcome to 23-year-old
Dave, but as Dennis was older than the rest of them, so his band and music style
preferences had developed from what had marked his teenage years, spanning
from 1965 until 1972 at the latest. Nothing strange there – every kid, whether
just a fan of a particular musical genre or an aspiring musician, develops their
taste and preferences at that age and a love for specific bands. Rarely does it
occur that the same level of love – or stronger – is born at a later age for a
different band or genre. People do change, they ‘meet’ new music, directions,
bands, but first loves are forever. The same was true of Dennis. He and Iron
Maiden simply had not watered at the same source of inspiration and it soon
became palpable. And all this time, Stratton was the only band member with
any kind of studio experience, which was good in a way, but he was also at an
age to have formed certain attitudes of his own and knew exactly what he
wanted, so in a way his joining Maiden was a bit of a screwy choice. He landed
in a team of young lads who were chomping at the bit, sharing the same dreams
and attitudes, who had already developed their inside jokes and pranks and all
they wanted was to be the sharper and fiercer and who’s only ambition was to
sweep away the competition and become the Britain’s best club act. Their

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music still wasn’t massively known as heavy metal, but it was in the air – it
wasn’t really punk any more, either. Dennis did look like the other members of
the band, he was an attractive asset on stage, but he was never 100% Iron
Maiden, at least not as the true leader, Steve Harris, saw them in his mind. From
the start of their collaboration, Harris had doubts, borne of conversations,
garage rehearsals, concerts, even hanging out in pubs, that Dennis might not be
the right man for the band, but it came to late… Rod Smallwood, who had
accepted Dennis unwillingly, pulled some strings and soon had a studio date
booked for the first album. On one occasion while laying down guitar tracks
alone with the producer and without consulting Steve and getting his consent,
Dennis Stratton added massive vocal parts and Queen-style harmonies, then
did the same for the guitars, in the song ‘Phantom of the Opera’ Producer Will
Malone accepted the ideas with indifference and recorded the parts – but they
didn’t have to wait too long for Steve Harris’s reaction. As time would tell, Steve
cherished a love for melody and harmonies, but he never compromised or
watered anything down – and he had zero ambition to become a Queen
copycat act. He had a clear vision and a plan for his band’s development, and
this little guerrilla attempt by Dennis to impose his will, perhaps to boss the
band around later, had to be nipped in the bud at the very start.

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Harris and Rod Smallwood ordered the recorded tracks to be destroyed, and
Dennis’s ‘insubordination’ was never really smoothed out. From then on, Stratton
would be under observation by both men, something he must have certainly
noticed and carried like an albatross around his neck. Moreover, in typical once
bitten – twice shy fashion, Smallwood and Harris prevented future wanderings of
individuality to everyone. Although Steve was already considering a change of
guitarist, as I’ve mentioned earlier, it was too late – the album was already being
recorded and the band would have slowed down while taking their big run at
fame. Dennis was presented with the opportunity to fix his mistake, but he simply
repeated it in exactly the same way. As Maiden recorded the single ‘Women in
Uniform’, Stratton made use of Steve’s moment of inattention and again
convinced the new producer that it would be great if he let Dennis and Clive Burr
record and overdub the backing vocals on the already completed mix. When
Steve heard the final version, he was furious. Dennis probably understood what
he was trying to do again, which is probably the reason why he dragged Clive into
it. That both would be past members relatively soon is a fact not to be sneezed
at, but part of the guilt for this lay also with producer Tony Platt, who ultimately
lost the chance to produce Maiden’s new album. He wasn’t helped even by his
competencies, work with AC/DC on their biggest albums ‘Highway to Hell’ and
‘Back in Black’, or his work with Foreigner on their successful ‘4’, or other world
class performers. Harris and Smallwood wanted loyalty first and foremost, and
they hadn’t found a producer with that quality to date. Stratton’s days probably
became numbered at this point, but he was still a member of the band. Steve
Harris recalls that, on hearing changed ‘Women in Uniform’, he was so angry that
he had to leave the studio to stop himself from doing something bad. Relations
were so strained that, although the situation was smoothed out, Dennis felt like
he was surplus and began distancing himself from the rest of the band while they
toured Europe with KISS in 1980. He spent more time socializing with the band’s
crew than the lads, and he could be seen often with the members of KISS, as
evidenced by many photos from the period. And while the band members may
not have noticed too much from the sheer exhilaration of being on tour, Rod
Smallwood noticed and recognised this behaviour as something that might lead
to a gradual deterioration of relations within the band, yet he chose to give Dennis
one more chance. Namely, he warned him that he should spend more time with
his own band than with others. Personally, I think that even without another
guitarist in their sights, gave Dennis Stratton too many second chances.

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The end was inevitable, however. EMI had booked the KISS tour and it would
have been unreasonable to break off with Dennis in the middle of that, but
their last concert with KISS in Drammen, Norway, was also Dennis’s final gig
with Maiden. Harris blamed Stratton for a myriad of sins. They went as far as
complaining that he became aggressive after just a couple of beers, despite
the reasons for the break being mostly of a musical nature. Stratton’s
opinions differed from those of the rest of the band, in the fundamentals of
what Iron Maiden wanted to be and what they are, and the fork in the road
had to come. The passage of years is always the most relevant confirmation
of who was right, and the same is true here. Dennis remains friends with
Harris and the rest of the band today, the fans appreciate him as a member
of the great Maiden family, and he has always been fair and correct towards
us. I’ve had the personal honour of meeting and interviewing him, but… Iron
Maiden today are what they are, and Dennis is also where he is. Perhaps his
ideas were bold, and good, but they didn’t find traction with the fans and his
career returned to good pub gigs and the shadow of Iron Maiden. Rod
Smallwood, a man with exceptional intuition, was unsure about taking on
Dennis from day one. Stratton even complained that Rod begrudged him the
music he enjoyed – and the fault is precisely in that ‘wrong’ age difference
and growing up with different music, as I wrote earlier.

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To sum up: there was no visible conflict or even cooling of relations between
Dennis Stratton and Rod Smallwood, but for his entire tenure in Iron Maiden,
Smallwood sent Dennis subtle signals that he wasn’t the most desired company.
For his part, Dennis’s guerrilla actions of recording things that hadn’t been
agreed to, mean that he was breaking the barriers of teamwork and showing
he couldn’t be a player who would blow his wind into the same sail with the
others, as one. By his age, he had already developed his own personality, style
and desires and perhaps it was his intent to implement them in Iron Maiden
and tune the band to his liking, but it simply didn’t fly. He was old enough to
not fit in enough, but still too young and lacking authority to make decisions
about Iron Maiden’s direction on his own. In later interviews, he would often
comment that Maiden were too young on that first tour to understand that he
needed his own space that wasn’t defined by being with the band 24/7, but it’s
also not hard to understand the rest of the band’s realization that things with
Dennis wouldn’t work out as expected – and it wasn’t just because of their
respective ages. In reality, Dennis hadn’t been in the band long enough for his
behaviour at the time to be quite so inflated. You know, it’s like when a couple
begins a relationship, everything’s great while they’re kissing in the park, going
to the cinema and meeting up in nightclubs. It’s when they begin a life together,
under the same roof, that the real differences and misunderstandings show
their face. This was exactly what happened with Maiden and Dennis.

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Following the Drammen show, Dennis’s last job with Maiden was the filming of
the ‘Women in Uniform’ video. Although Harris and Smallwood knew well that
Dennis was already an ‘ex’, they felt the video would in a way be the closing of
a natural cycle with a band member who had started an album with them and
would close its presentation. With departures in later years – Paul Di’Anno,
Clive Burr, Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson, Blaze Bayley, the band always had an
ace up their sleeve, a new member practically waiting in the wings and ready to
take the reins. This first time, however, after Dennis’s exit, a guitarist spot was
left open and it’s questionable whether Maiden would have succeeded so
quickly and significantly if they hadn’t been joined by Adrian Smith?

I had to write this introduction to the 1980 situation that preceded Stratton’s
exit from Iron Maiden and the entrance of Adrian Smith from his band Urchin,
in order for us to comprehend how crucial Smith’s arrival was to the band’s
ultimate success – how apparently small, ugly and unnecessary things that
happen in the life of any band sooner or later don’t have to be all bad, but can
serve as a platform for what’s to come and will only later show itself to have
been the hidden hand of fate. Smith was Murray’s friend since their teens,
and Dave knew Adrian could play the guitar, but this fact hadn’t been enough
for Adrian to arrive in Maiden sooner. Moreover, it was the short term,
temporary firing of Dave from Iron Maiden by their very first singer Dennis
Wilcock while the band was still in their demo phase, that acted as another
‘hand of fate’ – Dave found his new home in none other than Urchin, briefly
spending some time in a band where he was both appreciated and reunited
with his guitarist ‘soulmate’. Even then, on his return to Iron Maiden Dave
was unable to bring Adrian with him. Not only was the spot already filled, but
Adrian had high hopes for his own band and Maiden, still relatively unknown
and nothing special, didn’t seem like much of an opportunity to him. In reality,
what happened with Dennis Stratton had to happen just as it did by the tour’s
end in late 1980 for the band to meet, become interested in, audition and
very quickly hire Adrian. From this point in time, it’s hard to look back and
wonder what if – what would have happened if Dennis had stayed in the band,
what if he had never had his ‘deal’ with the producers, if he’d never recorded
unauthorized guitars and vocals, would Iron Maiden ever have found their
way to new producer Martin Birch or would they have been content with who
they already had, would they ever have been as creative with Dennis Stratton
as they became with Adrian Smith? As for how Smith joined the band…

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From the first time Steve Harris heard him play, Dave Murray became his first
choice for guitarist and the man he trusts so much that he considers Dave – and
himself – to be the integral part of the skeleton on which Iron Maiden would be
built. When singer Dennis Wilcock sacked Dave without Steve’s knowledge or
approval in the early days, it wasn’t long before Dave was back as a member of
Maiden with Wilcock fired instead and never getting a chance to return. In the
early days of Maiden, the only constants were Steve Harris, Dave Murray and
drummer Doug Sampson – and when they were joined by Paul Di’Anno in 1978,
it seemed like the pieces were falling into place for a first, concrete, line-up.

And Steve Harris soon realised just how good a guitarist Dave Murray really is.
Namely, he was having a hard time finding a good guitar partner – and since
Iron Maiden had been formed with the guiding idea that there would be two
lead guitars, it was something they would have to solve in a concrete way, not
with constant, pointless swaps. Steve had never hidden his influences like Thin
Lizzy and Wishbone Ash, and even UFO had switched to two lead guitars in that
period. Changing line-ups and searching for the right man to take over as
second guitar, the band reached a moment in which they finally did what they
had to – record a real debut album with what they had and finally introduce
themselves to the world. It’s not hard to assume that sooner or later the choice
would be Adrian Smith, who Dave Murray was sure would be a permanent and
excellent solution. However, although it was fated for these old friends to reach
the heavenly heights of fame together, it was not to be in 1979. Moreover,
Smith turned down the chance to join Maiden – the only member in the band’s
history to do this, and the only one who was then offered the opportunity a
second time. His refusal at the time was understandable – not only to us today,
observing from the sidelines, but also to Steve Harris, leader of his own band,
who could fully understand the decision – anyone who forms their own band,
plays in it, writes songs and decides the direction of its music, considers such a
band their ‘child’ and even if things aren’t the best, leaders rarely leave their
own bands. At the time, Urchin didn’t have some God-given record deal, but
they were full of optimism that something big would happen soon.

Still, it’s hard to stay cold to the fact that Iron Maiden had signed for EMI
Records, a deal which opened many possibilities and challenges. The thought
flew through Smith’s head that it might be great to play guitar on huge stages
and for an already formed fanbase, and he didn’t reject Maiden’s invitation

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smoothly, it took him some time and some pretty nervous contemplation,
during which he admits he chain-smoked two packs of cigarettes trying to
come to a decision. He explained his rejection of the band by saying he was
truly happy in his own band, because he had the freedom to play, sing, and
write his own melodies and lyric, and as I mentioned, Harris did not hold this
against him, seeing the move as simply what he would do as leader of Maiden.
Everyone dreams of succeeding on his own terms, with his own band, and
Adrian Smith’s attitude only earned him Steve’s respect.

The empty spot was ultimately filled by Dennis, which I’ve written more about
in my book about the album ‘Iron Maiden’, and Adrian Smith couldn’t have
expected that his own band that he had such high hopes for, would soon break
up. He would rewind the film in his head many times afterwards, regretting
turning down Iron Maiden, but ‘the last train had sailed’. Of course, it would
turn out not to have been the last train after all, but in that moment Adrian
couldn’t have known this. Having invested his time and effort into his band, he
hadn’t just lost a band but his job, and as a result, his source of income.

Adrian smith with his band Urchin.

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Broke, disappointed and demoralised, Adrian contemplated his remaining


options in life. His parents weren’t particularly happy about him choosing
music as a calling, but even when everything began to fall apart Adrian didn’t
bother searching for a ‘normal’ job, opting instead to hit London’s West End,
looking for people he might sell his newly written demos. In his book,
‘Monsters of River and Rock’, he writes: “It was an autumn afternoon in 1980
as I made my way along Clapton High Road. I was heading back home after a
day in London's West End hawking demos of some new songs I had written. I
was down on my luck at this point. Urchin, the band I'd pinned my hopes on,
and had spent the past five years nurturing, was floundering. Co-guitarist
Andy Barnett had left the group and the punk movement of the previous few
years had forced the more traditional rock bands, like us, to the side-lines.
True, the so-called New Wave of Heavy Metal was gaining momentum, but
Urchin was never going to be a metal band. We were doing goodtime bluesy
rock, and as good as I thought we were, it looked like we were going to fall
between the cracks.”

There was no interest in their demos, however, which additionally


discouraged Adrian and made him depressed, something he was already
prone to. He still paints a vivid picture of those days. “The day I'd spent up
west hadn't gone all that well, and I was dragging my feet as I crossed Lea
Bridge roundabout and headed towards Upper Clapton. I was flat broke,
which is why I was walking and not riding the bus. I remember walking home
because I had no money for the bus and feeling really down about everything.
I think it was probably raining too – you know, the whole depressive cliché.”

And, as the story usually goes in dramatic movie scenes, bereft of all hope and
with his self-confidence plummeting, Adrian Smith ran into Dave Murray and
Steve Harris on the Clapton High Road. It was simply the hand of fate – what
were the real chances of something like that happening? Oh, I don’t mean a
chance encounter on the street, but the fact that Iron Maiden had just
returned from their European tour with KISS, had just completed filming the
‘Women in Uniform’ video and were just at the parting of the ways with
Dennis Stratton. Really, in that moment it’s a question who needed more
help! Smith vividly recalls the details that forever altered the course of his life.
In his autobiography – and I sincerely recommend you read it – his description
of the moment continues: “Looking up, I saw two familiar figures making their

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way towards me. It was Maiden's Dave Murray and Steve Harris. We stopped
for a chat. They said they had just returned from a European tour with US
mega rockers KISS — and their debut album was riding high in the charts. They
certainly looked prosperous, with new leather jackets, smart jeans and boots,
and very long hair.” During the brief chat, Dave and Steve learned that Urchin
was no longer an active band – the best news they could have hoped for.
Adrian Smith recalls: “’How's it going with you?’ they inquired. I told them that
Urchin was inactive for the moment and had a moan about punk rock, all the
while tugging self-consciously at my own locks which I had cut to medium
length the week before. I noticed as I was talking that Steve was looking at
me very intently, and even Mr Murray's trademark grin had been replaced
with an expression bordering on seriousness. This probably stemmed from the
fact that the pair had rung me several months before to ask me to join Maiden.
I had, after working my way through a half-pack of cigarettes and countless
cups of tea, called them back to decline their offer. Urchin was still going
strong at that point, I explained, and I was happy singing, playing and writing
our own stuff. There was a momentary gap in the conversation and the three
of us stood there on the pavement, a stone's throw away from where Dave
and I had grown up and taken our first faltering steps on the rock 'n' roll ladder
— our heads full of dreams about being in a successful band one day.”

Everything was clear before it even began. Iron Maiden urgently needed to
find a guitar player ready to conquer the world and Adrian Smith urgently
needed anything at all: and escape from the situation he was in, as long as he
could play – do what he loved the most. Adrian stresses in his own book that
Urchin were not a heavy metal band, and that he was never a true metal soul
like Steve Harris, for example. Steve knew exactly who he was, what he was
and what he wanted – and he intended to achieve his goals. In that moment,
nothing could get in his way. In that moment, he wanted to move away from
any hints of punk, make his band fiercer, hire an even better producer, even
Paul Di’Anno no longer satisfied him on this journey – although his
replacement would have to wait just a little longer. And Adrian Smith, even if
he got another chance from Iron Maiden, wouldn’t be coming on board happy
and excited but because no other options were open and this opportunity
was a sitting bird. Maiden weren’t merely on the brink of success, they were
in the middle of it, it was already happening. They were on a metaphorical
train leaving the station to fanfare and honours as it begins a long journey,

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and Adrian Smith had the opportunity to simply jump in and ride off with
them. In the years to come, Adrian showed what ultimately led to his
departure in the late 80s – that playing with Maiden wasn’t his first choice,
that he had an entirely different rock and roll and AOR thing going, coupled
with a more Celtic sound. He had no opportunity to influence anything on
‘Killers’, but on their very next album a collaboration with Harris resulted in
the atypical Maiden song ’22 Acacia Avenue’. As early as ‘Piece of Mind’ his
song ‘Flight of Icarus’, with lyrics by Dickinson, became a single and the band’s
most played song on American radio stations. He achieved the same with ‘2
Minutes to Midnight’ from ‘Powerslave’, then in a flash of brilliance twice
more on ‘Somewhere in Time’, with singles ‘Wasted Years’ and ‘Stranger in a
Strange Land’. Try giving a listen to these five songs back to back, I’m doing it
as I write – and you will notice how different they are, more special, diverse,
radiophonic and more acceptable to a wider circle of listeners. Agree or not,
it’s these songs that gave Maiden their breadth and launched them well
outside Iron Maiden exclusive circles. It’s thanks to these songs that Maiden
became more widely accepted and started booking and filling ever larger
venues, all the way to stadiums. It’s not for nothing that these songs were
consistently selected to be Iron Maiden singles, both the band and the
management could feel that Smith possessed that certain something that
breaks strict metal barriers, turning Maiden into a global phenomenon with
the wider moniker of rock and roll in their definition. From album to album, if
you listen to them in the order I’ve noted above, every Smith-penned hit was
milder, more radio friendly and more comprehensible to a larger pool of
people, something reflected in the band’s excellent sales figures.

On the final Iron Maiden album he recorded before leaving the band, Smith
again took a leading role in working on the super hit ‘Can I Play With Madness’
and ‘The Evil That Men Do’, even getting the opportunity to sing a full track –
a full-blooded AOR anthem named ‘Reach Out’, performed by Iron Maiden as
the B side of their single ‘Wasted Years’. In other words, Adrian Smith was
always out to ‘cultivate’ Iron Maiden and at least turn them partly towards
what he loved and felt, in which he was safe, happy and fulfilled. It went well
for years, but just as he was about to achieve the dream, Iron Maiden made
‘No Prayer for the Dying’, a back to the roots, naked sounding record with no
concert backdrops, Bruce’s raspy vocals, dirty, raw musicianship. Feeling that

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AOR would lead to their doom, Steve Harris broke away from everything
Smith was finally able to enjoy and his departure was the only possible option.
Of course, following the great reunion and for the first time since ‘Somewhere
on Tour’ Iron Maiden reached for a live rendition of ‘Stranger in a Strange
Land’, and the first single from the 'Brave New World' album would be Smith’s
‘The Wicker Man’, co-written with Dickinson and Harris.

Why do I write all this? I want you to understand what must have been going
through Adrian Smith’s mind as he stood there in that moment, hopeless and
depressed, in front of Steve Harris and Dave Murray. If he joined Iron Maiden,
it would be a path of no return – no more living his own dreams but someone
else’s… And that’s exactly what happened. Year later, like in the zaniest
movies, he has become a living icon to millions of fans the world over, a
legend of heavy metal, a genre he never really belonged to in his heart. Take
a look at all his later solo projects, including this latest one with Richie Kotzen.
THAT is the music he loves, plays and lives. THAT is what makes him happiest.
But Adrian Smith is a METAL guitar legend. As they faced off on that autumn
street in 1980, Adrian had just a few seconds to prepare an answer to the
question he knew was coming.

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„Steve broke the silence. We might be needing a guitarist: he paused, If we


call again, will you do it?' The tone in his voice was clear. This was no polite
enquiry on his part. More like, this is your last chance. I got the message. `Yes,
definitely. I think it would be great!' I said. We bade each other goodbye —
Dave now with a reassuring grin and Steve giving me one last look. I continued
on my way, head spinning. The call came some time later and the rest is
history, well, music history anyway. What if I hadn't bumped into them that
day? What if I'd taken the bus instead? Or maybe meeting them had actually
provided a subconscious nudge that convinced them to give me one more try.“

Adrian Smith could pose a thousand more ‘what if’ questions, but sometimes
circumstances just align one way and that’s how it has to be. Any other
scenario and there would simply be no Iron Maiden as we know them today.
They might record songs of one sort or another. We might have still got
‘Wrathchild’, ‘The Number of the Beast’, ‘The Trooper’, ‘Aces High’,
‘Alexander the Great’ etc, but… the Maiden we know would be nowhere near
there without some of Smith’s aforementioned songs. The moment in which
he said ‘YES’ was the moment to truly – ‘meet our killers’.

Although he naturally later went to the London audition, he was invited to,
Adrian was also surprised in a way – he had thought the invitation to join the
band was a done deal, and that Dave Murray knew whatever should have
been known about his playing. By this point, however, Maiden were a no
longer a band to be trifled with. Everything went through management and
they insisted that an audition had to happen. It went well, of course, but until
it was well and truly over, it can’t have been too restful for Smith. Manager
Rod Smallwood couldn’t just get over someone’s initial refusal to come play
with Iron Maiden. He asked multiple times if Adrian was sure that he could
play both rhythm guitar and solo parts equally well. It’s always important to
remember that when it comes to Iron Maiden, one should simply accept Rod
Smallwood as a member of the band, understanding that no matter the
decision, unless Rod’s hand is in the air it’s unlikely to go through. This time,
though, Steve showed again that he was the only and true boss. Seeing the
constant pressure Rod was putting on Adrian, Harris practically commanded
him to calm down and take a step back, giving Smith back hope that he might
be hired. In his book, he remembers: “Rod putting the pressure on and Steve

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deciding when enough was enough.” While the band went out to discuss the
situation, Adrian joined the tour manager for a beer down the local pub.

Once he was accepted into the band, work on the second album could begin.
The first song Adrian Smith worked on with Iron Maiden was the title tune,
‘Killers’, and he recorded his first Iron Maiden solo for ‘Ides of March’.
Interestingly, Maiden had no idea what to call the song, even while recording
it in the studio. It was given the title ‘Ides of March’ at the last minute, just
before the album release.

On joining Iron Maiden, Adrian Smith showed signs of anxiety. He was unsure
of himself and his capabilities. It might seem funny to fans of the band today,
but for Adrian it was a nightmare. He lived with a certain level of fear that he
would be replaced or worse, that the great uncertainty he felt would be
discovered. He describes it: “I did compare myself to other players technically
when I was younger – and not very favourably. I grew up playing and singing,
so I was always more of a second guitarist. I usually had a virtuoso to lean on.
Then all of a sudden, every band we played with seemed to have a virtuoso
who’d learned from Eddie Van Halen, and that bothered me. I was very
insecure about that.”

The hardest truth to face, however, was the fact that he couldn’t control
anything here. It was much easier having his own band, it had given him a
dose of security, while here he lost self-confidence. Despite this, his Iron
Maiden story came to life, new concerts and album recordings and a huge
world tour coming almost too fast. Then another danger hit: depression…

From a fan perspective, joining a band like Iron Maiden should represent the
pinnacle of any musician’s career. From Adrian Smith’s, the huge, arrow
straight success felt outside his ability to understand and control. A usually
circumspect persona, he found the worst coping methods available: drug and
alcohol use. In a recent Metal Hammer interview, he clarified: “I don’t really
want to come across as ‘poor me, but [depression] was a feature of the ’80s
for me. The last gig I did before joining Iron Maiden was at a pub in London. I
remember getting on the bus with my wah-wah pedal in a Tesco bag, playing
that show, then the next thing was a massive gig with Iron Maiden. Quite the

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jump! I managed with sheer bravado to get through the first tour, then it
started to hit me a bit – people pay a lot of money to see us and there’s a lot
of great musicians out there, meaning it’s very competitive. It got on top of
me a few times, and when we hit America, things really kicked in with booze
and drugs, using it as a crutch. But you need to deal with those things, and
knowing that now means I don’t have the same struggles. It’s all part of the
growing up.”

The British media were welcoming of Adrian as a part of Maiden, and this in
itself served to relieve him and fix some of the broken self-confidence. If
nothing else, he was with his friend Dave Murray, whom he0d known since
their teens and who was a great person to lean on in the moment. They
quickly found a common tongue, and Iron Maiden soon defined their classic
sound, forming the classic sound of heavy metal as a genre in the 1980s. Dave
Murray and Adrian Smith’s friendship had now become a partnership born of
necessity, but both knew they couldn’t have wished to be ‘stuck’ with a better
partner. Adrian knew there would always be one person in the band ready to
stand with him and have his back. With a lot of live, this is his take on Dave
Murray: “I can’t imagine ever having that two-way mental thing going like
that with any other guitarist.” No doubt about it: every door was open for
them in that moment, and the very sky their only limit.

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H&M
In the 80s, there was a running joke among metal fans, particularly Iron
Maiden fans. The answer to the question ‘who is the best heavy metal
guitarist’ was always ‘Dave Murray and Adrian Smith’. The basis of the joke
was in the fact that, from Adrian Smith’s joining Iron Maiden in late 1980, the
two of them were generally perceived as a single entity. Countless world
known magazines with end of year top lists – in any year – would have a poll
for best guitarist where this famous pair were nominated together, as one
person, for example:

5. Kirk Hammet
4. Angus Young
3. Zakk Wylde
2. Van Halen
1. Dave Murray & Adrian Smith

Rarely, if ever, did one of them appear on a magazine cover alone, they were
always together, and did most of their interviews together. Dave Murray and
Adrian Smith became friends in their mid-teens, dreaming of one day
‘conquering’ the world. Adrian Smith even bought his first guitar from none
other than Murray. Smith’s departure from Iron Maiden in the late 80s was a
hard blow for both men, although it was something that had to happen for
better or worse. Maybe it was his absence that best showed Maiden where
their strengths lie and what makes them Iron Maiden. Not Smith as an
individual, but one of those combos we call ‘a perfect match’ – two musicians
and two different personalities, showing undoubted talent of the highest
quality even in separate projects. But only when they work together do they
take the most pleasure in it. A picturesque description would be that,
watching them interact on the stage, their exchanged looks and the way they
read each other’s minds and body language, the ease and passion of their
playing and their smiles, we see a new dimension opening that can only be
perceived when they play together. No matter the musical genre, if you ask
anyone who knows the music world to list their most special guitar pairing of
all time, if they don’t say Adrian Smith and Dave Murray outright, they will at

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the very least be in the top three. Of everything you will read in this book, and
anywhere else, the greatest triumph of ‘Killers’ is the formation and birth of
this duo, who would go on to truly conquer the world in a short time. Yes, the
entrance of Martin Birch and the legendary illustrations by Derek Riggs,
defining the classic Iron Maiden sound, all this is part of the ‘Killers’ legacy…
but the formation of this killer combo outdoes them all.

When he joined Maiden, Janick Gers ran the proverbial gauntlet precisely
because of those fans who couldn’t believe that there was a force strong
enough to separate this duo in the wake of Adrian Smith’s departure. Some
see Janick as an unnecessary extra to this day, but the fact is that both as
guitarist and author and human being, Gers has left an indelible mark on the
band. It’s interesting to note that Janick has been a member of Maiden for
longer than Adrian Smith. In most cases, there was no actual hate or
animosity directed at Janick personally in the early 90s, at his knowledge, his
charisma or his musical potential, it was simply that people couldn’t cope with
the fact that someone had allowed this story to end in such an abrupt way.
When Adrian Smith appeared as a special guest at the legendary 1992
Monsters of Rock festival to perform ‘Running Free’ with Iron Maiden, the
world stopped; the moment when Dave Murray approached Adrian on stage
and hugged him with a huge smile is one of the most unforgettable moments
not only in Maiden history, but in rock and roll history as a whole.

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For a moment, hope flared that a new super line-up would form with six
members, but for that to happen, another difficult period had to pass – Bruce
Dickinson’s departure and Blaze Bayley’s stint with the band, and it would be
another seven years before this legendary six-piece came together as the
definitive line-up, planning to stay together and play together for as long as
they can stand on their own two feet. This six-member Iron Maiden line-up
with three guitarists is probably the longest-serving line-up in the history of
heavy metal. As of today, they have been building metal history together for
22 years and it looks like nothing can stand in the way of their work.

Despite their two-decade domination as a six-piece with the ‘three amigos’ as


many call them, guitar duo Adrian Smith and Dave Murray have been the
subject of many discussions to this day, live, online, in news articles and
musical biographies. What’s so magical about the pair?

Let’s backtrack a little. As I’ve written before, by the late 70s it had been clear
for some time that Dennis Stratton, the guitarist from the band’s first album,
had to go. The tensions between Dennis and the rest of the band were
palpable. No fights here, no threats and disagreements or episodes of rage as
is common between members of some famous bands who split up and then
can’t hear each other mentioned for years afterwards. What happened was
something even worse – failure to communicate, tension and an
uncomfortable silence. Dennis hadn’t been with Iron Maiden too long, less
than a year, but it was long enough for him to record the band’s first album
and go on tour with them. It was during this tour that Dennis distanced
himself more and more from the rest of the band, spending more time with
their crew, and even with the members of KISS. In general, Dave Murray, Clive
Burr and Paul Di’Anno weren’t bothered by this so much, but Steve Harris, the
true leader and iron hand of the band, noticed these things. It was also
noticeable how close he was to Rod Smallwood, the band’s manager, and it
wouldn’t be incorrect to claim that Steve Harris was in some ways a ‘snitch’
of sorts, complaining to Rod about many aspects of the band he found lacking,
which they would then resolve together. Rarely, if ever, did Rod or Steve call
someone in for a final meeting before sacking them, they would always be in
the room together. In that moment, they wanted someone more positive in
the band, someone who would be a team player and wouldn’t bring tension

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and strife to the band. Hand on heart, Dennis was an excellent guitar player
and in fact began what Adrian Smith would finish – the harmonies on ‘Running
Free’ and ‘Phantom of the Opera’ are worthy of anthologies of guitar duets.

We should note, however, that these disagreements were formed by the


circumstances of the day and, despite them, Steve Harris and Dennis have
remained friends to this day. Dennis left the band in October 1980, but the
time that he was in Iron Maiden was considered to be enough for him to be
nominated with the rest of them for the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Dennis is also a West Ham United supporter, and has remained in touch with
Steve throughout the years, discussing life, football and any other subjects
that friends would discuss. When Iron Maiden were nominated for the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame, it was a surprise to Dennis that he was included in the
nomination. This is what he had to say on the topic to the Neil Jones Rock
Show on Totalrock Radio:

“The first reaction is that I thought, 'It's not gonna include me.' Funny enough,
I got a message on the Lionheart group message board from [the person] who
does all our graphics, the artwork, and he said to me, 'Have you looked online?
You've been nominated with the band.’ I've never had a lot of luck
with Maiden and certain things that have gone on over the years, like the gold
discs from the first album. I never actually got what I was due. I think I got
two, three gold discs, and there should have been about 20. And I never
actually get anything, you know. It was only down to Steve Harris texting me
about the re-release [of the first album], which was the 40-year anniversary,
that the office actually sent me a copy of the of the 40-year anniversary picture
disc. So, I was happy about that. But this was a bit of a shock, because to
include me and the other two, Clive and Paul, it's quite a nice gesture, from
my point of view - very exciting, in my point of view.”

Although Dennis was in the band only for their first album and didn’t take part
in writing the material, while Blaze Bayley recorded two albums with Iron
Maiden, did two tours and wrote many of their songs, in accordance with the
rulebook on nominees, wasn’t included (despite the eligibility being for
anyone who released something in 1995 at the latest – his first year), many
fans were saddened by his omission and debates on this have only begun.
However, the subject of this chapter isn’t the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but

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the legendary guitar duo, who had already earned a cult like status by the
early 1980s and, many will agree, form the core of Iron Maiden together with
Steve Harris. There has been much analysis of this subject, although there
hasn’t been anyone to put their theories to the test. Namely, some will say
that Iron Maiden equals Steve Harris, period. Others claim that the concept
of Iron Maiden without the vision and ideas of Rod Smallwood would be
ridiculous to consider in context of the successful band we know today, others
will credit Derek Riggs and Eddie with Iron Maiden being anything more than
a ‘good metal band’ on the level of, say, UFO or maybe Saxon. There have
been claims that, but for producer Martin Birch, Iron Maiden would have
been just one in a crowd of NWOBHM bands who were trying their luck in the
early 80s, splitting up in the meantime and reforming today to play themed
festivals like Keep it True and the occasional biker party.

Each of these opinions can be credited as valid, but perhaps the question ‘what
truly forms Iron Maiden’s core’ is best viewed through the lens of the one thing
that is their primary job – the music itself. We can all agree that, without Harris,
we cannot imagine Iron Maiden. There are many top bass players and authors,
but Steve is truly irreplaceable here. To the general public, Dave Murray has
always been somehow quiet, circumspect, smiling and friendly, but he’s a killer
guitarist. Wild, fast, unpredictable, energetic, watching him perform in concert,
his face and body language, Dave seems to meld with his guitar every time,
giving the impression that he’s singing the sounds of his instrument. Adrian
Smith has had several projects throughout his career, whether we’re talking of
his time outside Iron Maiden or inside. Steve Harris has a parallel project called
British Lion and has been a guest artist on his daughter’s album, boosting sales
to Maiden collectors. Bruce Dickinson has developed his own solo career in
parallel to the band, even Nicko has some fun projects of his own. However,
Dave Murray is the original sound of Maiden. If he does occasionally jam with
friends (Rhythm of the Beast), or has a similar, private musical moment, we
rarely hear about it, because – as I’ve said – Dave is Iron Maiden. Many
musicians embark on various side projects in their later years, but not Dave
Murray – he has remained consistently loyal to his main band since the first
album, and no one has ever seen him in a more serious, studio album who could
say ‘Dave sounds like Dave’ and not ‘Dave sounds like Iron Maiden’. Perhaps
the question itself hides the answer – that Dave Murray is in fact Iron Maiden
as much as Steve Harris. The only time Dave left the band was before they

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recorded the first album – unfairly fired by then-singer Dennis Wilcock, who
would soon be fired himself by Steve Harris – he joined the band Urchin, which
turned out to be the best move Maiden never knew they made. On leaving
Urchin, Dave returned to Maiden and brought along his childhood friend Adrian
Smith. We cannot imagine Iron Maiden without Steve Harris, or without Dave
Murray. Can we imagine them without Smith? People will say ‘well, they
recorded their first legendary album without him, they made four albums
without him after he left, left behind the ultimate hit ‘Fear of the Dark’ without
him’. Is that proof enough for our imagination?

I’ll be open with you. I like Janick Gers. For me, he’s a positive personality, a good
author, an attractive and authentic live performer and his solo in ‘Blood Brothers’
is, for me, one of the best and most epic guitar solos of all time. However, the
albums that were made without Adrian Smith are – for me personally – defective
goods in a way, although still the authentic Maiden sound.

I love these albums. I appreciate them and listen to them with pleasure, some
of my favourite songs are on those records. However, there’s nothing sweeter
or more beautiful than the alternating, breakneck switching solos between
Murray and Smith, immediately followed by the harmonizing intro to the
main guitar line of the song, opening the door to some new universe. I’ll never
get enough of such sections in songs like ‘Caught Somewhere in Time’ or ‘The
Trooper’, ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ or the legendary ‘Hallowed Be Thy
Name’. I’m deliberately skipping Smith’s own compositions with their special
sensibility, or their unbeatable live version of ‘Walking on Glass’ which leaves
me breathless even after thirty-five years.

Yes, Iron Maiden did begin without Smith, even recording their first album
without him, and it would be unfair, even rude to say that they’re not Maiden
without him, but no one will convince me that the heavy metal or even guitar
world, regardless of the genre I know so well as the author of these books and
a fan of music, holds two guitar players who are capable of producing bigger
magic than that made by Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. Call to mind ‘Hear
’N Aid’, the 1985 charity that gathered the metal elite in Los Angeles to record
a song to raise funds for the hungry in Africa. The two men took the time to
join the other stars for the video recording, both having been invited, of
course, to contribute the guitar harmonies to the song ‘Stars'…

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How to describe Dave Murray’s and Adrian Smith’s playing in a few words?
Dave’s solo style, with his unbelievably deft, masterful use of the tremolo, is
much more fluid and unpredictable. Patterns and notes simply fly from his
fingers, spraying from his fretboard and taking on unusual shapes that are
impossible to define with musical notations. On the other hand, Adrian is at
the crossroads of classical, AOR, hard rock and traditional Celtic music, always
bordering studio precision and screenwriting elaboration. He plays somewhat
more slowly in comparison with Dave, clearer and louder, but the loudness is
well dosed through the finesse of his expression, because with every solo it
seems like Adrian is telling a story, especially if he happens to have written
the whole song. Jimi Hendrix screams through Dave Murray together with a
pleiad of old school rock stars, while Adrian Smith channels the spirit of the
late lamented Gary Moore, the Wildman with a guitar. These two different
styles come together so well that it’s no wonder they’ve become a brand
apart from Iron Maiden’s fame. Their playing of different riffs and melodies
at the same tempo creates a classical stereo effect of duelling guitars, a
Maiden trademark sound. Many of the top metal bands, like Metallica, Judas
Priest, Queensryche and Helloween have two guitarists in the band and
occasionally make use of them in this way. I’ve rarely had the opportunity to
see such a lightness of non-verbal communication on stage, when the blink of
an eye or a minimal twitch of the body contributes so much to their perfect

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timing. It’s difficult to hypothesise whether Iron Maiden would have reached
quite this level of success even with Bruce Dickinson’s entering the band,
were it not for Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. From album to album, their
sound has become more sophisticated, working on attuning to one another,
culminating in their unbelievably good job on ‘Powerslave’, the start of their
guitarist trilogy that was followed up with ‘Somewhere in Time’ and 'Seventh
Son of a Seventh Son' that I firmly believe should be studied at musical
academies. As you’ve read in the previous chapter, Adrian Smith spent the
80s battling depression. Social anxiety coupled with unexpected success
resulted in alcohol and opiate abuse, and the exhausting tours lasting a year
and more – like the ‘World Slavery Tour’ left their trace on him. “You’re gone
for a year and your whole life goes out the window, basically. By the end, you
don’t know how to act properly anymore. You don’t know who you are or what
you’re supposed to be doing. I remember I went to see my parents when I got
home and I knocked on the wrong door.”

Luckily, Adrian was able to make the best of his situation and for their next
album, he wrote songs that made Iron Maiden sales rise to millions of copies.
So when did Murray and Smith become the most famous guitar duo in the
world? Probably following the release of ‘Live After Death’, Maiden’s first live
record, where they presented a textbook example of togetherness,
harmonious musicianship both in riffs and infectious solo parts – for the
duration of the concert.

Dave Murray once tried to explain a little of his magic, revealing that he
records his studio solos by first ‘allowing’ the notes to come spontaneously,
in a freestyle manner, and records them over the pre-recorded backing
melody, repeating the process several times. He then selects the best parts of
these spontaneous moments and constructs the final solo melody. Several
leading world guitarists work the same way. Namely, many guitarists practice
their solos before recording and hit on a perfect moment almost by accident,
but constant repetition without recording later takes them down the wrong
path until they can no longer remember what sounded so good or how they
got there, let alone how to replicate it. Ludic moments go as quickly as they
appeared, and with his approach, Dave Murray catches the magic while it’s
still floating in the air, saving it and distilling it into what millions of fans the
world over today see as a gift from the gods.

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Adrian makes no secret of the fact that


Dave taught him not only guitar but how
to sing, revealing one fact that has been
specific since the early days. “I was an
absolute thrill just hearing for the first
time Dave playing electric guitar and he
still has the same sound. It’s funny, but
your sound doesn’t change no matter
what guitar people use. The sound is in
your hands and in your technique.”

The paired sound, whether from Dave’s


Fender Stratocaster and Smith’s
Jackson, Gibson Les Paul, the Ibanez and
Adrian Smith’s Lado, are guitar lessons,
not only of the ability and skill of
musicianship, but that of the beauty of
an unadulterated friendship and boyish
daydreams that led them to the top of
the world in an almost fifty year journey. Smith remembers his love for heavy
metal being born when Murray played him Deep Purple’s ‘Highway Star’,
neither dreaming that just a few years later, the same man would produce
some of their own most important albums.

“I wanted to be in a band, it was a eureka moment, that was it. That one song
started it all... Murray was a bit further down; he'd actually put the time in
and learned to play the guitar. He started me off playing. I bought my first
guitar off him. I think it was like five quid or something – it was something he
had lying around.”

The first song Adrian and Dave learned how to play together was Hawkwind’s
legendary ‘Silver Machine’. Adrian added: “Well, it’s quite incredible that
Dave Murray and I hooked up when we were around fifteen years old, maybe
sixteen. We were probably the only two kids in our neighbourhood who liked
hard rock. We discovered Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix and all that. We used to
ruin parties by putting on Deep Purple records, when all the kids wanted to
listen to pop music. That’s how we found our common love of rock music.

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Even back then he could play really well and had this distinctive sound. He was
further along the road with playing guitar, so I told him I was a singer as I
couldn’t play anything at the time! I blagged my way into jamming with him
and his mate, then we were growing our hair and donning the look, which was
very strange back then because word hadn’t really got around, so we just
looked like this little cult!”

Let’s get back to ‘Killers’. From the opening riffs and the dual guitar melody in
the brief instrumental named ‘Ides of March’, serving as preparation for the
‘battle’ to come and played as an intro at concerts for this very purpose, the
duo showed just how they would express themselves in the future – and the
rest is history!

It’s been more than forty years since Adrian Smith joined Iron Maiden for the
first time, and to this day he and Dave Murray continue to delight fans all
around the world. Adrian, known to his friends as ‘H’ – the ‘aitch’ sound of
the letter being his nickname and a shortening of his full name, recently wrote
and published an autobiographical book, ‘Monsters of River and Rock’, in
which he discusses the early days of their friendship in more detail. In writing
this book, I felt it was more than necessary to write something about this pair
of guitar virtuosos, and the book about ‘Killers’ is the ideal place – this is
where it all began, this is where history was made. Of course, for those who
prefer just facts: it all began with their first live jams, then their stint with the
band Urchin, but it’s in Iron Maiden that they developed their personality,
finally recorded something together and, ultimately, got the chance to
present it to the world.

As I wrote this, I spent a long time studying what the fans say about the pair,
other well-known musicians, in awe of the fact that almost everyone shares
the same opinion. Of everything that has been written, I’ve chosen a single
quote from the comments section below the YouTube instrumental of 1986
song ‘Walking on Glass’, stating loud and clear:

“Melody, emotion and drama in their playing, even when 'shredding'… that's
what separated them from the pack and that’s why they still play football
stadiums today!”

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1981
Each of my books about an Iron Maiden album contains an obligatory chapter
about the year in which the album was created, released and promoted.
Although Iron Maiden rarely made songs about current events, the fact is that
certain marketing strategies and key management decisions certainly reflected
what was going on in the world, political decisions or business and capital news,
or parallel events in the music industry. To put the release of ‘Killers’ in its
proper context, it is necessary to know what was going on in the world at the
time. Although it has already been forty years, back then Greece had just been
accepted into the European Economic Community, a precursor to what we
know today as the European Union. Many islands, archipelagos and small
oceanic states voted for independence – mainly from the United Kingdom but
also from other great nations. Thus, Palau became a self-governing territory,
the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States was founded, and Belize, formerly
known as British Honduras, became independent. Two months later, the same
happened with the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, all of this showing the
lessened influence of ‘the Crown’ on the rest of the world, and the weakening
of the United Kingdom at the start of the Eighties.

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This was the year in which Northern Ireland’s Dunmurry plant produced the
last legendary DeLorean, a sports car made from stainless steel and boasting
a special ‘gull-wing’ door opening system. The car would later be made
famous by the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy of movies. At the start of the year,
I remember the famous 1981 solar eclipse, and how we were all excited to
view it through the bottom of a broken beer bottle, there being no other
option at the time. Over in the USA, the Space Shuttle Colombia was launched
as part of the STS-1 mission, carrying NASA astronauts Josh Young and Robert
Crippen, returning to Earth two days later. It was the first mission in which a
reusable spacecraft with a human crew returned from orbit. It was also the
year of the Boeing 767 aircraft’s maiden flight, but no one in Iron Maiden,
management or band, could have dreamed then that some thirty years later,
their future singer – whom they’d only noticed in 1981 – would pilot that very
same plane, ferrying the whole band, their management, crew, equipement..

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This was by no means the last of the new for 1981. The first ‘test tube baby’,
Elizabeth Jordan Carr was born Norfolk, and the first episode of the popular
British sitcom ‘Only Fools and Horses’ premiered on BBC One, titled ‘Big
Brother’. Strange, but true – the first ever paintball championship took place
in Henniker, New Hampshire.

1981 brought us a series of tragedies and unfortunate events. Twenty


supporters of FC Olympiacos and one AEK fan lost their lives in Greece, while
54 were injured in a stampede at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus. Not long
after, a fire broke out on Valentine’s Day inside Stardust, a Dublin club, killing
48 people and injuring 414. At the Kansas City Hyatt Regency hotel two
crowded skywalks became loose and took 114 people to their deaths. Two
months later, an explosion at a Czechoslovakian mine in Zaluzi killed 65
people. The same month, Brazilian riverboat the Sobral Santos capsized in the
Amazon River and 300 people lost their lives. Another explosion, this one in
the Japanese Yūbari mine in Hokkaidō took 93 lives. A railroad tragedy in
Bihar, India, saw seven crowded train cars overturn, killing between 500 and
800 people. The worst death toll happened in El Salvador, where the army
killed more than 900 civilians in the so called El Mozorte massacre. At the

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year’s end, Inex-Adria Aviopromet’s flight Maiden-80 crashed into a


mountaintop whole trying to land at the Ajaccio Airport in Corsica, killing all
180 people on board.

1981 is also remembered for two major assassination attempts. On March 30,
a day after the first London Marathon with 7500 racers, US President Ronald
Reagan was shot twice in the chest near a Washington D.C. hotel. Would-be
assassin John Hinckley Jr. wounded another three people in the attempt. Two
months later, Mehmet Ali Ağca, an assassin from Turkey, tried to kill Pope
John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican. The Pope later visited the
assassin in prison and forgave him for the act.

During 1981, members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA)


incarcerated in the HM Prison Maze (Long Kesh) began a hunger strike to
protest their political status. Bobby Sands was the first of the ten to pass away
as a result of the hunger strike, on May 05 1981. Just six days later in Miami,
legendary Jamaican reggae singer Bob Marley passed away from cancer, aged
just 36. Less than a month later, the US Center for Disease and Prevention
reported that six men, all homosexuals, had developed a rare variant of
pneumonia, earlier seen only in patients with a severely weakened immune
system. These were in fact the first ever noted cases of AIDS. Taking into
account everything that the HIV virus ultimately became, the title of Queen’s
1974 single ‘Killer Queen’ becomes darkly ironic, not to mention their first live
album from 1979, named ‘Live Killers’, widely regarded as their best live
release of all time, and certainly a candidate for Iron Maiden’s inspiration to
name their sophomore album simply ‘Killers’. It might even be interesting to
compare ‘Killer Queen’, a song about a high-end prostitute for the crème de
la crème and world leaders, to Iron Maiden’s ‘Charlotte the Harlot’, whose
main character is also a prostitute but on the complete opposite of the scale.
It’s good to also remember that in the year of the ‘Killers’ release, the first
mention is made of people using crack, the smoked form of cocaine – in the
USA and the Caribbean.

France abolished the death penalty in 1981, and Mark David Chapman was
sentenced to 20 years in prison for his murder of John Lennon in Manhattan
nine months earlier. The first Coca-Cola bottling plant in China was opened in
1981, with Pepsi entering the Chinese market not long after. Strangely, it

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would take more than 35 years for worldwide attraction Iron Maiden to make
it to China, and even then it would only last a year, as the Chinese Ministry of
Culture set conditions the band would have to comply with in order to obtain
a permit to perform there:

There were no pyrotechnics used during the show. During the performance
of ‘The Trooper’, Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson did not wave a Union
Jack flag, but as can be seen in the video below, he still sported the red coat
uniform worn by troops during the battle which inspired the song and waved
an ‘invisible’ flag while singing the track. In addition, the Union Jack was still
prominently displayed on the backdrop during Maiden‘s performance of the
song. Bruce changed one word to the chorus of the song ‘Powerslave’ from
‘Tell me why I had to be a Powerslave’ to ‘Tell me why I had to be a Wicker
Man’. Iron Maiden was not allowed to throw stuff (wristbands, drum heads,
etc.) into the crowd during the concert. Bruce didn’t swear and had to be
careful not to use the ‘F-word’.

Towards the end of 1981, China became the first country in the world to pass
1 billion citizens. In 2020, in spite of population-control measures, China had
almost 1,5 billion inhabitants, while neighbouring India has somewhat less –
together the two countries make up nearly 40% of the world’s population.

Dave Murray in China.

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1981 was significant in many technological aspects, especially in the IT sector.


The E-mu Emulator sampler keyboard with floppy disk operation was unveiled
at the NAMM international Sound & Music Expo, Chicago. Production Model
Serial Number 001 was issued to Stevie Wonder. ‘Donkey Kong’ and ‘Mario’
both premiered in 1981 as smash hit arcade games developed by Nintendo in
Japan. On August 12, 1981 the original Model 5150 IBM PC (with a
4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor) was released in the United States at a base
price of $1,565. Soon after, on November 18, the COMDEX Fall occurred – IBM
introduced the IBM PC, Scientific Solutions announced the first PC add-in cards.
The same year, Luxor AB presented their ‘ABC 800’ computer. But let’s go back
to the model 5150. Although primitive by today’s standards, with just 64 KB
RAM, a 16-bit processor running on 4,77 MHz, and with a price tag of around
2000 USD, the IBM 5150 helped the computer reach beyond an exclusively
business clientele. Countless manufacturers followed the example set by ‘big
blue’, quickly making home computers all-present. We all know what happened
next, especially today when we can no longer do without our smartphones and
when anyone, including me, can write a book from the comfort of our home.
The music industry has changed completely, and physical releases are bought
only by enthusiasts and collectors. In their video for ‘Speed of Light’, Iron
Maiden showcased the development of computers and computer games in a
light-hearted way.

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How old is ‘Killers’? The following showbiz celebrities and legendary athletes,
people we all know and recognise, weren’t born yet: Pitbull, Alicia Keyes, Toše
Proeski (d. 2007), Elijah Wood, Justin Timberlake, Paris Hilton, Julia Stiles,
Jessica Alba, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Rami Malek, Iker Casillas, Anna
Kournikova, Natalie Portman, Adriana Lima, Ivanka Trump, M. Shadows of
Avenged Sevenfold, a band that has been a frequent support act for Iron
Maiden. And we’re not even nearly done. Top athletes, already considered
veterans of their sport, like Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Zlatan
Ibrahimović, were also born after the release of ‘Killers’, as were singing
superstars like Beyoncé and Britney Spears, who even headlined the 2001
‘Rock in Rio’ festival where Iron Maiden recorded their legendary live album.
Among those who passed away in 1981 were Albert Speer (German Nazi
architect and war minister), Rafael Mendez (Mexican-born trumpet virtuoso),
Robert Montgomery (American actor and director) and Natalie Wood
(American actress). That year, Muhammad Ali lost the final match of his
career to Trevor Berbick.

Casius Clay Ali and his trainee Joe E. Martin. Courtesy of Courier-Journal.

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In the summer of 1981, the whole world tuned in to their TV to watch Charles,
Prince of Wales marry Lady Diana Spencer in London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, and
Simon and Garfunkel held a free concert for around half a million people in New
York’s Central Park. France introduced a high-speed rail service between Paris
and Lyon, and in the UK the Church of England General Synod voted to admit
women to holy orders. Interestingly, this was the day of the famous 1981
United Kingdom tornado outbreak, the largest recorded tornado outbreak in
European history, with a whopping 104 confirmed tornadoes.

But what made 1981 memorable musically? In the United States of America, a
new cable TV station went on air on August 1, and the first historic video played
on MTV was – as expected – The Buggles’ ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’.
Wikipedia’s list of the first songs played on MTV, a channel that truly changed
the music world and turned it on its head, states this: The first video to air on
MTV was one emblematic of MTV's concept, The Buggles' 'Video Killed the
Radio Star'. 116 unique videos were played, spanning 209 spins over the first 24
hours; from the beginning, MTV used the rotation system and repeated popular
videos throughout the day. 'You Better You Bet' by The Who, which was also
the first video to be repeated, 'Just Between You and Me' by April Wine, and 'In
the Air Tonight' by Phil Collins were each played five times. Rod Stewart made
the most total appearances that day with 16, with 11 of his videos being played.

MTV's first day on the air was rebroadcast on VH1 Classic in 2006 and again
in 2011 (the latter celebrating the channel's 30th anniversary). The first hour
on the air was broadcast again on August 1, 2016, and was called MTV Hour
One, as part of VH1 Classic's planned re-launch as MTV Classic, MTV itself, and
additionally streamed on the channel's Facebook page.

And where are Iron Maiden in all this? Believe it or not, their video for ‘Iron
Maiden’ was the sixteenth song played that first day, making them the first
heavy metal band ever to be played on MTV. Moreover, in spite of the mass
media blacklist and denigration of the band by many newspaper critics,
‘Wrathchild’ was played four times in MTV’s first 24 hours, the third most
frequent rotation, and ‘Iron Maiden’ was played twice. In all, of the 209 videos
by 116 performers that played that first day, six plays were of an Iron Maiden
song, and their MTV debut occurred in the second hour on the air. These were
the artists we saw in the first hour:

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01 'Video Killed the Radio Star' - The Buggles


02 'You Better Run' - Pat Benatar
03 'She Won't Dance with Me' - Rod Stewart
04 'You Better You Bet' - The Who
05 'Little Suzi's on the Up' - Ph.D.
06 'We Don't Talk Anymore' - Cliff Richard
07 'Brass in Pocket' - The Pretenders
08 'Time Heals' - Todd Rundgren
09 'Take It on the Run' - REO Speedwagon
10 'Rockin' the Paradise' - Styx
11 'When Things Go Wrong' - Robin Lane and the Chartbusters

Some titbits from the MTV launch that are useful to know: On Saturday,
August 1, 1981, at 12:01 am Eastern Time, MTV launched with the words
'Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll', spoken by John Lack and played over
footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia (which took
place earlier that year) and of the launch of Apollo 11. Those words were
immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, a crunching rock tune
composed by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen, playing over the American
flag changed to show MTV's logo changing into various textures and designs.

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The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio
Star', originally only available to homes in New Jersey. Sporadically, the screen
would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR. MTV's
lower third graphics that appeared near the beginning and end of music
videos would eventually use the recognizable Kabel typeface for about 25
years. But these graphics differed on MTV's first day of broadcast; they were
set in a different typeface and included information such as the year and
record label name.

For everyone who wasn’t lucky enough to see Maiden’s first airplays in person,
know that the videos were recordings of their performance on the ‘Live at
Rainbow’ video and that the caption on the first ever heavy metal song to hit
MTV’s airwaves erroneously claimed that the song ‘Iron Maiden’ was on the
1981 ‘Killers’ album (see screenshot below). When ‘Wrathchild’ aired, the VJ
even mentioned the band by name. In MTV’s first 24 hours, Iron Maiden were
on the screen for a full 20 minutes, a good indicator that they got excellent
treatment from MTV, especially for an unknown band – surprisingly good.

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Why was this? Many will swear up and down that the record company Capitol
invested a lot in the promotion of Iron Maiden, but the truth is that bands
and artists of the time did not routinely make videos like they do today, and
MTV had limited options. As MTV’s first days aired in a freestyle manner, this
was reflected in their early playlists. In those day, a minor TV station with a
limited budget found it easier to buy the rights to air lesser-known bands and
while Iron Maiden were no exception, the fact that they were the only full-
blooded metal band played is impressive. The playlist also featured hard rock
bands Rainbow and April Wine.

Outside hard rock and heavy metal, 1981 gave us a lot of new fodder. Bands
like Bananarama, The Bangles, Beastie Boys, Clan of Xymox, Culture Club, Pet
Shop Boys, Pretty Maids, Sonic Youth, Soul Asylum, The Wailers and Wham!
began their climb to world success, while The Buzzcocks, Yes and Paul
McCartney & Wings broke up. Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical ‘Cats’
premiered on May 11, 1981 at the New London Theatre, designed by Croatian
architect Paul Tvrtković, and went on to a record 8949 performances. Another
premiere in 1981 was that of the Canadian animated science fiction film for
adults, ‘Heavy Metal’, a cult classic today. In addition to Sammy Hagar’s title
song, ‘Heavy Metal’, artists featured on the soundtrack were Black Sabbath,
Blue Öyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Journey, Nazareth, Trust and many more.

Today, the movie’s famous logo is known across the globe, and while it was
not directly linked to heavy metal music, it certainly helped the genre gain
affirmation and promotion in the world.

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In addition to the deaths of renowned musicians and rock pioneers Bill Haley
and T-Rex bassist Steve Currie, it was the death of reggae superstar Bob
Marley that deeply shook the world. But many singing legends also came into
the world in 1981. Beyonce, Britney Spears, Alicia Keyes, Kelly Rowland, Justin
Timberlake, Craig David, and Amy Lee, frontwoman of Evanescence, a band
who would go on to be special guests of Iron Maiden at many of their
concerts. I mention all this to emphasise that Iron Maiden have truly been a
constant at the very top for more than forty years. Let’s recap 1981 in music.

Early in the year, following the suicide of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, the remaining
band members reformed as New Order and released their debut single
‘Ceremony’. Not long after, two weeks before the release of ‘Killers’, Plasmatics
vocalist Wendy O. Williams was arrested for simulating the act of masturbating
with a hammer on stage. It was a good intro to a turbulent 1981..

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Phil Collins released his first solo album ‘Face Value’ a week after the release of
‘Killers’. Just a few day later, Rush released their mega-successful album
‘Moving Pictures’. Around this time, Billy Idol departed from Generation X in
order to focus on his solo career. At the Grammys ceremony, Christopher Cross
became the first artist ever to win four major awards with his debut album,
snatching Album of the Year from under the noses of Pink Floyd, who were
nominated with ‘The Wall’. This controversial decision is unclear to everyone to
this day, and is considered to be one of the biggest Grammy oversights of all
time. Christopher was quickly forgotten as a singer, and this was a good lesson
to Iron Maiden at the start of their career that these kinds of awards shouldn’t
be a priority for them, or something to get worked up about..

Three musicians had serious health issues in 1981. Eric Clapton ended up in
hospital and cut short his tour because of a gastric ulcer, and Steven Tyler of
Aerosmith was involved in a motorcycle accident that ended with him in
hospital for two full months. Not long after, Clapton was in hospital again, this
time following a car crash of his own in Seattle. Jerry Lee Lewis underwent
emergency surgery for a perforated stomach in a Memphis hospital, and
although given less than 50% chance of survival, he pulled through. Sadly, the
aforementioned Bob Marley was not as lucky when a tumour spread from his
big toe to the rest of his body.

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Continuing the tradition of crazy year starts in 1981, Ozzy bit the head off a dove
at a CBS record label gathering in Los Angeles in March. Meanwhile, big things
were happening over at Maiden’s record label. Diana Ross signed with EMI,
leaving Motown Records, her label of two decades. The $20,000,000 deal was the
most lucrative recording contract in history at that time. While Maiden were
proving themselves on tour, anarchy broke out at the New York club, The Ritz,
when the audience realized that Public Image Ltd., playing behind a video wall,
were playing different music to what was coming over the sound system. One
audience member described his experience: “This gig was May of 1981. New York
was still eerie because of Lennon. PIL were performing behind a screen while the
performance was being projected onto the screen. Unique, but the vibe was
horrific. We were all scared out of our wits. Bottles and chairs were then thrown
to bring down the screen. I think the band were fired up on Vodka or junk. Keith
Levine threatened us! The screen came down and hundreds of bottles followed
as the Ritz Security grabbed and tackled the band. Yes punches were thrown,
while dodging bottles. Then they were whisked offstage. No more show man!
Everybody then assembled outside on 11th St and police patrols were blocking
3rd and 4th Ave. to control the riot. Girls were sobbing. It was insanity. It was
performance art taking a big bite while using us the fans as props!

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On the previous page, you can see the cover of the first ever issue of
‘Kerrang!’ magazine, featuring Angus Young. Iron Maiden went without a
mention in the first issue, or even the second, and they didn’t make the cover
until the 25th issue in 1982, pretty odd considering their stellar rise and later
success of 'The Number of the Beast'. This would never happen in today’s
‘Kerrang!’

With the rise of the cassette player and the possibility of duplicating audio
cassette recordings as well as recording music direct from the radio, the
British Phonographic Industry took out newspaper ads in late October 1981,
unveiling its new slogan: the ads advocate a levy on blank cassette tapes.
While at the time this may have looked like a serious threat, considering
everything that has happened since, this ad does look a little ridiculous.

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Cassette recorders were popular at the time, and the BPI was afraid that
recording music from the radio and copying cassettes would cause a significant
fall in the sales of albums and singles. Legendary manager Malcolm McLaren,
working at the time with British New Wave act Bow Wow Wow, came up with
a gimmick for the single ‘C-30 C-60 C-90 Go!’ – the cassette B side was empty,
so fans could record the music of their choice. EMI records promptly broke their
contract, stating that the reason was the single’s promotion of ‘home taping’.

While we’re on the subject of McLaren and therefore punk, it’s important to
remember Fear’s appearance on Saturday Night Live on August 31, when
moshing fans invaded the stage and wrecked the equipment, which resulted
in a cut to commercials – it was one of punk’s greatest moments. Four months
earlier, The Exploited had recorded their cult classic ‘Punks Not Dead’ which
reached number 20 on the UK chart and was the top-selling independent
release in the UK that year. The album achieved great underground success,
and is widely regarded as the defining record of the ‘OI!’ subgenre. The title
song ‘Punks Not Dead’ holds special meaning for the punk movement, and
The Exploited went on to serve as a bridge of sorts between punk and metal.
Today, they can often be caught performing at metal festivals.

Ll

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At the close of the year, around 35 million people the world over watched a
satellite broadcast of Rod Stewart’s concert at the Los Angeles Forum. It was
the first broadcast of this kind since Elvis’s ‘Aloha from Hawaii’. Also in 1981,
Alice Cooper abandoned his distinctive makeup and began appearing on stage
in a military uniform. With few strong rock albums released, synthpop
experienced a massive surge in popularity in the United Kingdom. Bands like
Ultravox, Depeche Mode and The Human League released debut albums,
bringing about a significant turnaround on the world scene. And yet, 1981
wasn’t blessed with an overabundance of superhits like the year before, or
indeed like the year that followed. There were exceptions, of course, but a
withdrawal could be felt in all genres, a calm before the storm. Heavy metal
was all but invisible on the mainstream scene.

Eighteen performers made it to the top of the US charts in 1981. The most
weeks at number 1 went to John Lennon (4), Olivia Newton-John (6), Kim
Carnes (9), and Diana Ross in duet with Lionel Richie, their song ‘Endless Love’
also spending nine weeks at the top. Not a single hard rock or metal song
reached the US number one spot in 1981. The UK chart featured twenty
performers at number one. John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ was there for four weeks,
followed by his ‘Woman’ for two. Songs from Shakin’ Stevens, Adam and the
Ants, and Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin also spent four weeks at the top,
but the biggest hit was the Adam and the Ants song ‘Stand and Deliver’, which
spent five weeks at number one. Again, not a trace of hard rock or heavy
metal. Some could be found on the album charts, however. In the US, AC/DC
managed just one week at the top with their ‘For Those About to Rock, We
Salute You’, while Foreigner and John Lennon & Yoko Ono spent seven weeks
each at the top. The Rolling Stones achieved nine weeks at number one, but
REO Speedwagon took the crown with fifteen weeks at the top with their
album ‘Hi Infidelity’. In the UK, Queen spent four weeks at number one, Stars
on 45/Starsound and Cliff Richard managed five, with Adam and the Ants
taking the top spot for 12 weeks with their album ‘Kings of the Wild Frontier’.
If we count Meat Loaf as hard or at least epic rock, he hoisted the colours for
two weeks at the top, and of course, good old Motörhead’s ‘No Sleep ‘Till
Hammersmith’ was at number one but only for a week. This live release is also
Motörhead’s only number one album ever, a record that opened the door to
heavy metal’s chart domination for the remainder of the eighties – despite
their claims to being a rock band.

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1981 evergreens include ‘Tainted love’ (Soft Cell), ‘In the Air Tonight’ (Phil
Collins), ‘Jukebox Hero’ (Foreigner), ‘Kids in America’ (Kim Wilde) and ‘Romeo
and Juliet’ (Dire Straits). In its week of release, ‘Killers’ battled two other
successful releases: ‘Difficult to Cure’ (Rainbow) and ‘Moving Pictures’ (Rush),
and Gillan’s ‘Future Shock’ was released a month later. ZZ Top had already
began flirting with synths on ‘El Loco’, while KISS released ‘Music from “The
Elder”’ which did so poorly that, for the first time in history, the band didn’t
bother going on a promotional tour. We should also mention The Cure’s third
album ‘Faith’, and Whitesnake’s most successful release to date, ‘Come and
Get It’. While on the subject of mainstream rock and hard rock, Def Leppard’s
second album ‘High ‘n’ Dry’ is worth a mention, preparing us and them for the
success of ‘Pyromania’, their third release.

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Imagine, for a moment, heavy metal without bands like Anthrax, Metallica,
Slayer, Overkill, Sodom… Yep – thrash metal was born in 1981, but this is by
no means the end of the list of important metal acts founded that year.
Beowülf, Dark Angel, Jag Panzer, Jaguar, Killer Dwarfs, King’s X, Loudness,
Manowar, Mercyful Fate, Mötley Crüe, Napalm Death, Pantera, Pretty Maids,
Queensrÿche, Ratt, Running Wild, Savatage, Stormwitch, Steeler, Suicidal
Tendencies, Tesla, Twisted Sister, Vicious Rumors, Virgin Steele, Vixen and
more than forty other world known metal names embarked on their musical
journey in that far off 1981, forty years ago at the time of writing this book.
Looking at ten of the aforementioned bands – Anthrax, Metallica, Slayer,
Manowar, Mercyful Fate, Mötley Crüe, Napalm Death, Pantera, Queensrÿche
and Twisted Sister – is a clear indication that it was a prototype year for metal
as we know it today, proto-bands who would define the modern genre. This
whirl of names gave metal the opportunity to branch out into all the genres
we know today – just a year earlier, the situation had been very different.

AC/DC’s Brian Johnson had settled in quite well by 1981, and it would be the
year in which they attempted to surpass the limit they had set with their
legendary ‘Back in Black’ album. They released ‘For Those About to Rock, We
Salute You’, the title song and its opening cannon fire delivering another
instant classic rock anthem. Accept released ‘Breaker’ and Anvil came out
with ‘Hard ‘n’ Heavy’, while April Wine gave us ‘Nature of the Beast’. We also
got releases from Blackfoot, Blue Öyster Cult, Graham Bonnet, Alice Cooper,
Dokken, Gillan, Girlschool, Sammy Hagar, Hanoi Rocks, Holocaust, Kiss,
Krokus, Loudness, Ted Nugent, Praying Mantis, Raven, Riot, Rose Tattoo,
Triumph, Trust, Tygers of Pan Tang and Y&T, but there were twenty or so
albums in 1981 that in some way permanently changed heavy metal and
made it as it is today. Budgie’s ‘Nightflight’ may not have been particularly
noticed in metal history, but the cover art of the album certainly was. Even
then, Derek Riggs was clearly signalling the direction he wanted to take in
terms of design and what we could expect from Iron Maiden’s covers going
forward. Motifs from ‘Powerslave’ and ‘Somewhere in Time’ were merged on
the cover of ‘Nightflight’ and will be caught quickly by those with even the
most superficial knowledge of heavy metal and Maiden’s opus. In 1981, Black
Sabbath released ‘Mob Rules’, produced by long time Maiden collaborator
Martin Birch. In a 1999 Guitar World interview, Tony Iommi tried to explain

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why the band’s sound was too nervous on this album, in his opinion. “We
were all going through a lot of problems at that time, most of it related to
drugs. Even the producer, Martin Birch, was having drug problems, and it hurt
the sound of that record. Once that happens to your producer, you’re really
screwed.” On the other hand, AllMusic’s Greg Prato called the album
underrated and ‘enthused’, stating: “The album ‘Mob Rules’ was given a
much punchier, in-your-face mix by Birch, who seemed re-energized after his
work on New Wave of British Heavy Metal upstarts Iron
Maiden's ‘Killers’ album.” It is interesting to note that Iron Maiden never
mentioned Martin Birch having any drug related problems.

Taken from Ronnie James Dio's official Twitter.

Joan Jett released her solo debut ‘Bad Reputation’, and Judas Priest turned to
a more radio-friendly form of expression with ‘Point of Entry’ following the
success of their debut ‘British Steel’. Mötley Crüe introduced themselves to
the world with their debut ‘Too Fast for Love’ and immediately earned a

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platinum record. Motörhead joined Girlschool to record the ‘St. Valentine’s


Day Massacre’ EP, then went on to release the cult live album ‘No Sleep 'Till
Hammersmith’ which, as I’ve already mentioned, reached the top of the UK
chart. Ozzy’s 1981 effort was the legendary ‘Diary of a Madman’, the final
studio album made with the tragically deceased guitarist Randy Rhoades,
while Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow replaced singer Graham Bonnet with
American Joe Lynn Turner, marking a solid turn towards a more commercial
sound, and reaching number three on the UK chart with the single ‘I
Surrender’, the highest chart position the band would achieve in their career.
Take some time to listen to the song ‘Can’t Happen Here’ from this album and
watch the video, and you will see that in some things, the world has not
changed a bit and that the lyrics od the song remain more than relevant to
this day.

Canadian band Rush had great success with their album ‘Moving Pictures’,
and it remains the best-selling album in the USA in their career. Over the pond
in the United Kingdom, the band Samson were unaware that their days with
singer Bruce Dickinson were numbered. In 1981 they released ‘Shock Tactics’,
while Saxon released ‘Denim and Leather’, their final album with the classic
line-up and their final release to fall under ‘classic’ Saxon. Michael Schenker
Group released their second album ‘MSG’ – their best in the opinion of many,
but Thin Lizzy showed signs of fatigue with their eleventh album ‘Renegade’,
a sign of what would follow until the death of frontman Phil Lynott. Other
bands who made their mark on 1981 include UFO with ‘The Wild, the Willing,
the Innocent’, Van Halen with ‘Fair Warning’ which sold over two million
copies, and Venom with ‘Welcome to Hell’, a cult record that arrived at the
very end of the year as a culmination of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
Although most often described as a mixture of heavy and speed metal,
Venom’s album greatly influenced the emergence of al subgenres of extreme
metal, from thrash to death, black and others.

1981 in metal can definitely be remembered as a great turning point in many


things, as can be seen from this chapter, but a crucial moment was most
certainly the fact that Iron Maiden finally defined their true sound, the sound
that makes them instantly recognised and remembered the world over today.
RIP, Martin Birch.

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"The first time I saw them at work, I was surprised and seduced by their
energy and their attitude. I have rarely seen bands with so much energy. In
this way, they reminded me a bit of the early Purple. But their attitude
towards rock is very different, and so is their conception of it. It was said
that they were a second Purple, but I don't agree with this. Obviously, Steve
Harris was a Purple fan, but he's mostly influenced by bands like Jethro Tull,
UFO or even Genesis. Nothing to do with Deep Purple. Of course, in both
cases we have a very melodic hard rock, and not just speeded up noise like
with some other bands in heavy metal, but I don't think we can compare any
further."

Martin Birch, Best Magazine, France, 1983.

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HEADMASTER'S MASTERWORK
“Book author”… might be the only nickname expected by rock generations in
the past half-century from the man who could probably be inducted into the
Guinness Book of Records for the number of officially noted nicknames in
hundreds of millions of album releases all over the world. ‘Catalyst’, ‘Black
Night’, ‘Sir Larry’, ‘Basher’, ‘Big Ears’, ‘Court Jester’, ‘Doc’, ‘The Wasp’, ‘P.C. ’,
‘Q & A’, ‘The Ninja’, ‘Jay’, ‘Saint Martin Doc’, ‘Headmaster’, ‘The Farmer’,
‘Marvin’, ‘Pool Bully’, ‘Mummy’s Curse’, ‘Jah’, ‘Live Animal’, ‘Plan B’,
‘Phantom of the Jolly Cricketers’, ‘Karate Kid’, ‘Masa’, ‘Massa’, ‘Disappearing
Armchair’, ‘The Bishop’, ‘The Juggler’… just a few of the many nicknames
mentioned in the myriad of regular, special limited and who knows what kind
of editions of music releases – all of which have one man behind them, a man
we can freely say is an indisputable legend of rock, hard rock and heavy metal
– Martin Birch.

I say “book author” with good reason, because if there’s anyone I’d have liked
– as an author of music biographies, researcher and fan of the work I do – to
see writing a book, it would be Martin Birch. Asked about his lengthy list of
famous nicknames, and specifically to ‘The Farmer’, Martin jokingly said: “It's a
kind of tradition that's always been with me, haunted me, throughout my
career. All the different bands I worked with over the years, kind of had a
nickname, and I think Steve and the boys picked up on this. So I started to get
nicknames and that on, "Farmer" was pretty basic. I used to live out - I still do -
used to live out in the country there. And it was in winter, and I think I turned
up one day with Wellington boots and that kind of farmer jacket, country-type
jackets, and I think I had some army fatigues on, something like that. And
covered in crap. And they said to me, ‘oh you look like a farmer’. And it stuck.”

Now imagine how many similar stories there are about any of the listed
nicknames? Some might be mundane, others stupid, some would be inside
jokes and references, and others linked directly to moments at recording
sessions, direct from the studio. For those who might not know what this is
about, a brief explanation: on every release by bands like Iron Maiden, Deep
Purple, Whitesnake, Rainbow, Black Sabbath etc, the acknowledgments

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section carries a nickname of some sort between Martin Birch’s first and last
name. Each nickname tells its own story, every one of the stories is part of
rock anthology today. Just imagine working on so many albums with Richie
Blackmore, being present in the studio for the birth of superclassics like ‘Child
in Time’, ‘Smoke on the Water’, or ‘Burn’. Imagine you’re witness to the
advent of singing stars like David Coverdale, Ronnie James Dio or Bruce
Dickinson or that you’d been present for the first steps of guitar legend Gary
Moore. Imagine that you’d been there for sad moments of decline, band
breakups and even deaths of legends like Paul Di’Anno, Bill Ward, Michael
Schenker or Tommy Bolin, or impossible twists of fate like Ian Gillan’s
defection to Black Sabbath, days that shook the hard rock world?

How many stories have we missed in his imaginary, never written book? Just
think of the pioneering venture of combining heavy music with classical in
Deep Purple’s ‘Concerto for Group and Orchestra’, recall that this man was
the first who recorded the unbelievable dual guitar harmonies for Wishbone
Ash, whose Andy Powell and Ted Turner filled a young Steve Harris’s head
with ideas about how his own future band should sound. Imagine, this is the
man who captured the vocal harmonies of Coverdale and Glenn Hughes and
succeeded at the challenge of ensuring that Dio wouldn’t be seen as just a
replacement for the legendary Ozzy Osbourne so well he had people asking
‘Who the hell is Ozzy?’ Birch witnessed the creation of Rainbow, and the
making of history in long ago 1972 when he dragged ‘The Rolling Stone Mobile
Studio’ all the way to Osaka to record and musically shape Deep Purple’s
legendary live album ‘Made in Japan’. Isn’t just that fodder enough for a top
range biography? And it’s not even half of his enormous contribution to the
music industry. Martin Birch was the first man in history who properly
captured the raw energy of punk that surrounded him, the strength and
mysticism of hard rock, the grandiosity of timeless classical and the best
moments of progressive rock and melted them down into something not just
called heavy metal but ‘the Martin Birch sound’. There’s no doubt, from his
early work with Jeff Beck and Fleetwood Mac to the stadium production of
‘Fear of the Dark’, his specific sound and its perfect balance is noticeable –
and impossible to describe in words. With Birch, every instrument can be
heard perfectly and clearly and every second of every sequence has its
purpose. With a hefty, strong and finely rounded bass line and a perfect
rhythm section, Birch created a 3D vision of sound.

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What the world knows from the brief and uninformative bio on Wikipedia is
this: “Martin Birch (27 December 1948 – 6 August 2020) was a British music
producer and sound engineer. He became renowned for engineering and
producing albums recorded predominantly by British rock bands, including
Deep Purple, Rainbow, Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Blue
Öyster Cult and Iron Maiden. Birch was born on 27 December 1948 in Woking,
Surrey. Having failed to become a recording artist as a singing guitarist in the
British blues band Mother’s Ruin, Birch started out working with The Jeff Beck
Group (1969) and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac (1969-73, also engineering
Green’s 1970 solo debut) before being recruited by Deep Purple (1969-1977).
In 1980, coming from the ‘Deep Purple camp’, he was called upon by Black
Sabbath for 'Heaven and Hell'. The band's previous albums had been self-
produced and they were happy to let Birch, who had worked with Ronnie
James Dio before, produce them. His 'bright midrange' on the album is
especially noted. He began a long tenure working exclusively with Iron
Maiden in 1981, producing and engineering ‘Killers’ and retiring from working
with other bands for a while.

Birch also produced and engineered albums for numerous artists. These
included Deep Purple-related projects (Rainbow, Paice Ashton Lord,
Whitesnake, Roger Glover and Jon Lord), but also encompassed Wayne County
& the Electric Chairs. On Fleetwood Mac's album ‘Mystery to Me’ (1973) he is
also credited playing acoustic guitar. Martin Birch supposedly played guitar on
the Bob Welch composition 'Keep on Going’ and he also played rhythm guitar
on the 1974 album 'I Survived' by Adam Faith, a recording for which he was also
the engineer. The song ‘Hard Lovin' Man’ from the Deep Purple album ‘Deep
Purple in Rock’ is dedicated to him: ‘For Martin Birch – catalyst’.

Birch retired in 1992, after producing Iron Maiden's ‘Fear of the Dark’ album.
It was the last of the ten records he produced with the group. He appeared in
Iron Maiden's music video ‘Holy Smoke’ two years before his retirement.

Birch died on 9 August 2020, at age 71. The cause of death was undisclosed.
Initial tributes were paid by David Coverdale, Geezer Butler and Wendy Dio.
Members of Iron Maiden offered a lengthy tribute to Birch on their official
website, with Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson and Rod Smallwood reflecting on
his personality and his time working with the band.

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And other than a list of albums and singles, that’s it. Each of my books about
Iron Maiden albums has roughly 256 pages. When I started collecting material
and statements about Martin Birch, I gathered so much that a whole new,
separate book could be written just about him – which might not be a bad
idea, so I’ll limit myself to fourteen pages here and write a bit about the man
who deserves so much, much more… When the news of his death on August
9, 2020 reached us, many were shocked as it was quite unexpected. Eddie
Truk, famous American journalist and music historian, tweeted immediately:
“Wow. This is a massive loss. Martin Birch produced some ICONIC great
albums! I had always hoped to one day interview him. RIP to a legend in
production.” I can say I shared this unfulfilled wish with Eddie – I spent ten
years trying to reach Martin incognito, asking dozens of people for an address
or telephone number, and I finally got somewhere last summer and was ready
to make the bog call when the sad news came. To this day, I regret not having
the chance to see Gary Moore and Eddie Van Halen live, and I’ll forever regret
not getting to chat to Martin Birch.

Screenshot from 'Holy Smoke' video.

The news of Martin’s death was broken to the world by David Coverdale of
Whitesnake, who tweeted: “It is with a very heavy heart I’ve just had verified
my very dear friend & producer Martin Birch has passed away... Martin was a

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huge part of my life... helping me from the first time we met through until
Slide It In...Mt thoughts & prayers to his family, friends & fans...” In just a few
minutes, seemingly the whole music world was paying tribute to Birch: Toni
Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio’s official account, David Ellefson,
Scorpions, Jay Ruston, while Charlie Benante was clear and concise: “RIP
Martin Birch; he produced the Sounds to Most of our lives”.

Birch was always credited as a producer or engineer, as well as for mixing


many albums and was usually fully responsible for the sound of his projects,
but anyone who worked with him knew that he was a lot more than that:
Steve Harris stated after his death that “He was just absolutely brilliant. He
wasn’t just a producer, he was a hands-on engineer too, so he knew how to
get a great sound. He was also fantastic at motivating people; he just had a
knack of getting the best out of you. He was also a really nice man, great fun
with a terrific sense of humour and that made him easy to work with. We all
got along with him really well and the whole band is very saddened by today’s
news.” Bruce Dickinson followed this with: “To me, Martin was a mentor who
completely transformed my singing: he was a psychotherapist and in his own
words a juggler who could mirror exactly what a band was. That was his
special talent as a producer. He was not a puppeteer, he did not manipulate
the sound of the band, he just reflected it in the best possible way. Apart from
all of that he was a wonderful, warm & funny human being. Martin and I
shared a passion for martial arts – he for karate and me for fencing which gave
us another bond too. I’m so very sad to hear this news, it’s incredible that he
has passed away at such a young age for a man who was so full of life.”

Dickinson’s and Harris’s words really tell you all you need to know of why Iron
Maiden worked with Martin Birch so passionately and for so long, and Bruce’s
is an indirect explanation of the ‘Juggler’ nickname given to him while
recording the ‘Fear of the Dark’ album and ‘Karate Kid’ from the ‘Behind the
Iron Curtain’ video.

Unfortunately – or luckily, as it may be, Martin’s job wasn’t merely twiddling


a bunch of dials. He often had to use all his educational skills to tie all the
strings together and exercise some control over the people he was working
with: from violent, egotistical ‘maniacs’, drug and alcohol addicts, people
suffering from depression, outright weirdos, flighty, unstable and labile

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people – to those whose talent was either questionable or so deeply hidden


even they had no confidence in themselves. He produced many albums in
difficult circumstances, just think of Deep Purple’s trip to an empty Swiss hotel,
where they recorded their masterpiece ‘Machine Head’, or the well-known story
to Iron Maiden fans about ‘No Prayer for the Dying’ which Martin had to record
in a hut on Steve’s estate because of an idea Harris had come up with. In spite of
it all, Martin hit Number One in the UK three times with Iron Maiden, and his live
masterpiece ‘Live After Death’ is considered by critics to be one of the best live
albums of all time.

In an interview for Best magazine in 1983, Birch clarified why he preferred to work
with the same band on several projects in a row: “I certainly think that you can
only make the most out of a band if you know it really well, very much in depth,"
he said. "Occasional producers who make an album with a band, then move on
to another, are bound to do something pretty shallow. The results are always
brilliant, excellent at the time, but you realize later that the true colours of the
band don't come out and the album loses quickly its prestige.”

But this leaves the question – what was so attractive and magical about the man’s
knowledge and behaviour that multiple bands wanted him and no one else at the
mixing desk year in, year out? What made him so different from others and how
did every band he worked with become iconic? Of course, in addition to perfect
pitch and a feeling for the shape of sound, his extraordinary ability to inspire,
motivate and his deep understanding of the artist and their need to express
themselves were possibly the decisive factors. It’s no wonder at all that Deep
Purple dedicated a song to him – ‘Hard Lovin’ Man’, calling him their ‘Catalyst’ in
the liner notes of the album this song appears on, ‘Deep Purple in Rock’. This first
nickname of many says enough.

There’s no doubt that ‘Killers’ was the album which defined Maiden’s sound, and
many still regret that the band didn’t reach out to the wonderful and dearly
missed producer while recording their debut, the man with a thousand
nicknames. Many also hoped that someday in the future, far off, Maiden’s
legendary producer would emerge from his circumspect private sphere again and
take over the mixing desk one last time for their farewell album, to remind us of
what it was like when Iron Maiden were Iron Maiden. However, no one really

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knew why Birch retired so early in the first place, or why he never went back to
what he knew and did best. Taking into account that he ended his career with
Iron Maiden in 1992 or 1993, he was only 45 years old at the time – it’s how old I
am now, and ye gods, I don’t feel old at all. What made him do it – burnout, health
issues, dissatisfaction with the changes in the music industry in the 1990s, or did
he simply no longer give a damn once he’d earned enough money to retire on,
simply leaving the music world as a professional and winner, never looking back?
Namely, ‘Fear of the Dark’, his final album, also reached Number One.

The story of how Martin Birch began


working with Iron Maiden is as fantastic
as their later collaboration. In it, we see
perhaps the only moment in their
history that they underestimated
themselves, as well as why Ritchie
Blackmore deserves more credit in the
history of heavy metal than simply as a
member of Deep Purple and Rainbow.
Why? Although they already had their
eye on Martin Birch as one of the best
known producers and sound engineers
in the business, Steve Harris and gang
didn’t believe themselves good enough
to warrant his attention. “We all talked
about him, but we thought, like, 'We’re
not worthy'," recalls Harris, thinking a
producer of that calibre wouldn’t
consider working with beginners and it was pointless to even think about. Indeed,
how could anyone expect Birch, who’d worked on Black Sabbath’s legendary
‘Heaven and Hell’ in 1979, to jump into the studio with punkish beginners like Iron
Maiden? Having just finished working on the album, as well as Blue Öyster Cult’s
‘Cultösaurus Erectus’, in the summer of 1980Birch visited his old acquaintance
Ritchie Blackmore who was quick to play him a record by a band Martin hadn’t
heard of, asking “Why don’t you do them?” The band were Iron Maiden and Birch
was immediately enchanted, as well as disappointed that no one had contacted
him about producing their debut release. He said Maiden were “exactly the sort
of thing I enjoyed, and I could tell that the production didn’t do enough for them

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on that first album”. While I never met Birch, I spent a happy hour with Ritchie
Blackmore and his lovely wife in Zagreb and reminded him of the story, to which
he proudly replied that, whatever people said or wrote, he’d known when to step
away from heavy sounds and let someone else take their shot; moreover, to help
them get on their feet – and that his decision to give Iron Maiden that push was
completely justified. Blackmore is considered by some in the media to be the
biggest musical ego in the world, but I say these words refute them!

When Harris met Birch and realised in disbelief that Birch regrets not having
the opportunity to work on the debut album, there was no question of who
would produce the follow-up. Steve and Martin had totally opposing views of
the world. Steve thought that, having worked with Blackmore, Iommi,
Coverdale, Dio, Moore and the rest, Birch would never deign to look down
from the heavens on his little band and agree to risk working with them –
while Martin had had enough of ‘stars’ and their demands, spoilt behaviour
and coke-fuelled sessions. He wanted to get away from all that and start at
the beginning, to show what he was capable of.

“I personally wanted to produce them because it was a way out of the Purple
family. There are in fact many differences. Musically, a band like Iron Maiden is
typical of the second generation of hard rock and stands out from the first one
because the band is more consistent, more compact. They don't fall into easy and
very boring solutions with 20-minute guitar solos, then keyboards, then drums,
like I experienced with Purple. I think they're more robust, musically speaking.
Another difference is their attitude towards the outside world. They are not into
the ‘star-system’ and remain very accessible. Success has raised any barriers
between them and the others, press, audience, which wasn't the case before.
Moreover, they listen to you, and they are not convinced right away that they are
right. This is why I think that this is my favourite band to work with; the
producer/band relationship is much more constructive. Even within the band,
although Harris is the boss because he founded it and writes most of the songs,
there is a great unity and nobody tries to stand out individually from the team. It's
really nice, and mostly really exciting because their music is full of energy.”

As soon as Birch arrived in London in early December of 1980, he and the


band locked themselves away in the Battery Studios, following a short UK tour
to introduce their newcomer Adrian Smith. Once in the studio, they were on

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Birch’s territory and he quickly took charge. The first step was to make the
band relax, lower their stress levels and the pressure. He suggested what he
felt the band did best: he set up stage equipment in the middle of the room
and let them play together, live, explaining that they could do any necessary
overdubs later if needed. HE felt it was the best place to start. He later
explained: “I’d always been interested in getting the natural sound a band
produces themselves on stage, and with Maiden I tried to capture that as
much as I could. So, to begin with, we just concentrated on capturing their
natural sound and put little overdubs on afterwards.” His approach obviously
worked for Maiden, having just returned from tour they felt safer playing for
the big producer together. Step by step, the rhythm section was perfected,
and Burr’s powerful drumming and Harris’s bass domination created the ideal
foundation for the guitar harmonies of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, who
was obviously taking to it like a duck to water and quickly accepted the Birch’s
strict business ethic. “I’d never worked with a producer who was so totally
involved in the whole process. He was a good laugh, but when we were
working, he cracked the whip.”

Paul Di’Anno was proverbially good in the studio and he didn’t disappoint –
with Birch, his singing even gained in depth and fullness, while retaining every
drop of punk energy. On ‘Killers’, he sang some of his best parts. Birch got
what he wanted very quickly, and many will call it the ‘classic Iron Maiden
sound’, but it was really the ‘Martin Birch sound’ I mentioned earlier. I
challenge you to listen to one of his earliest works, Fleetwood Mac’s album
‘Mystery to Me’, a completely different genre of music, then Sabbath’s
‘Heaven and Hell’ and then ‘Killers’ – it won’t take you long to realize that all
three have the same sound signature, that of Martin Birch – and you’ll see
that in the studio, he reigned supreme. Maiden not only learned how to play
their album well in the studio, but the constant live rehearsals served them
well when ‘blowing everyone away’ later on tour. Birch’s ‘dribbling’ and
terrorizing them to achieve perfection earned him the nickname ‘The
Headmaster’, and if you like reading liner notes carefully, you’ll see that
Birch’s credit on ‘Killers’ reads: ‘Produced, engineered and Bullied by Martin
Birch’. Maiden wanted to make the jokey emphasis since it was working with
Birch that had raised them to a new level. For comparison, just listen to the
1979 version of ‘Wrathchild’ on the ‘Metal for Muthas’ compilation, and the
‘Killers’ version recorded with him in early 1981.

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Recording ‘Killers’ coincided with sessions booked at the same studio for Samson
and their album ‘Shock Tactics’. Bruce Dickinson had shared the stage with
Maiden already in 1979 as the lead singer of Samson, touring all over the UK, and
he was impressed by their energetic performances, later claiming that he secretly
wondered what he’d be able to achieve as a singer with such a band behind him.
When Clive Burr, a friend while he recorded with Samson, invited him to join them
in the studio for a couple of sessions, Bruce immediately said yes. The inevitable
was set in motion. Harris was pleased that Bruce’s attention was on the band,
although neither the Samson lads or Paul Di’Anno – or the press – still had no
inkling of the future. Dickinson later showed how much better he felt ‘Killers’ was
than Maiden’s first album. “When I heard ‘Killers’, I was like, ‘This is more like it.
This is really gonna do it for them.” Steve Harris isn’t far from feeling the same.
Moreover, he would go on to say: “I loved ‘The Number of The Beast’, but I didn’t
think it was our best album at the time, and I still don’t.”

Birch immediately saw who the boss in the band was, and as such he stuck to
Steve Harris’s vision, while still respecting the other band members. “It was
pretty obvious from the off that Steve was in charge. Which was good, from
my point of view, because me and Steve would agree 99 per cent of the time.”
Moreover, Birch soon grew to love the band, immediately saying he hoped
they’d work together again. Not only did his wish come true, but he soon
signed an exclusive deal with Iron Maiden guaranteeing him at least one
album a year for a number of years. Aside from contractual obligations to two
artists – Michael Schenker and Whitesnake, whose albums he produced until
1984 – Birch continued to work only with Maiden, although after 1986 it was
no longer an album a year, the gaps becoming longer. Birch was happy
regardless, having the opportunity to choose who to work with and when. “I
was lucky enough to be in the position where I could make that decision.”

Birch explained it with this following fact – unbelievable from today’s point of
view, but true – he was so involved with Iron Maiden by the mid-1980s, and
so satisfied with his own earnings, that it was easy for him to reject even
bands like Metallica. “They were another band that had been incredibly
influenced by both Maiden and Purple, I think, but I was putting so much
energy into the Maiden albums, I thought, ‘If I start trying to build up another
band in the same way, I won’t be able to give either of them 100 per cent,’ so
I said no.”

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But let’s be honest – while Metallica at the time gave the impression of new boys
who’d conquer the world, they weren’t nearly as big by then as Maiden. On the
other hand, as soon as ‘Killers’ came out Maiden were no longer media darlings
and the beginner coddling and niceties evaporated. When the album was
released, they weren’t ready for the incoming fire from all quarters. Sounds
magazine had initially ‘adored’ them, but wrote among other things ‘Well dodgy,
more of failure than a triumph’, emphasising that the album had ‘far too few
stormers to the inch’. Much of the media followed suit, sharpening their blades
on Maiden to send them to the history books as just another of the plethora of
NWOBHM bands like Angel Witch, Demon, Diamond Head, Elixir, Satan etc. the
success of Maiden’s first album had in fact been a trigger for envy and
backstabbing. The band’s successful performances supporting Judas Priest and
KISS on the one hand and the weakening of the early days euphoria around the
NWOBHM movement and several key bands breaking out of its mold turned
people against them, even some who had initially supported them and helped
organize the UK tours. Maiden consciously chose to move away from the raw
force that was characteristic of punk, but at the same time they delved into
something more forceful and darker, as well as more demanding and more
sophisticated – and more likely to be commercially successful. In any case, their
ambitions had grown by an order of magnitude, and the band had a good
foundation for this. So naturally, these kinds of ‘outlaws’ had to be taken down a
few pegs, and who better for the task than the media? Although Malcolm Dome
was one of the few to defend them in his Record Mirror review, the band worked
to a well-defined plan, knowing their fans knew the songs from earlier concerts
and that live, at least, Iron Maiden couldn’t fail. Thanks to these kinds of reviews,
the album didn’t do as well as the debut, reaching only number 12 on the charts,
but in the end ‘Killers’ sold much better. Some will say the band didn’t pay too
much heed to the negative criticism, but as the author of most of the songs, Steve
Harris couldn’t help disagreeing with the reviewer: “He was trying to imply we
hyped the first album into the chart, but hyping didn’t make it go silver. You can’t
hype 63,000 people to buy it. And it’s gone gold in Japan. Is that hyping too?” In
the eyes of some, Iron Maiden had rebelled, they begrudged them such a fast
leap forward and ever longer absences from the country that had ‘made them’.
They no longer saw them as part of the NWOBHM movement and held it against
them that they seemed to cast it aside so easily, not realizing that the public didn’t care
about such things and that Maiden had simply outgrown local stories. It didn’t
take the band long to prove it.

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When Bruce joined the band following Paul Di’Anno’s departure, Martin Birch
quickly realised what ‘material’ he now had at his disposal: “When Bruce joined,
it opened up the possibilities for the new album tremendously. I simply didn’t
think Paul was capable of handling vocals on some of the quite complicated
directions I knew Steve wanted to explore.” He already knew well what he
needed to do. The best example is the legendary story of recording 'The Number
of the Beast' when Birch showed his greatness by pushing Dickinson to give his all
and even more than that, to give what even he didn’t know he possessed.

From a quiet intro where he’s close to whispering to the final scream in the song
'The Number of the Beast', Dickinson’s seeming inability to sing it as he was
expected was frustrating the singer, to the point where he broke a chair against
the wall in rage. Birch kept demanding he take it from the top, mentioning that
Ronnie James Dio had the same problem while recording Black Sabbath’s classic
‘Heaven and Hell’. Having also produced that album, Birch had advised him to put
his entire life into the first couple of verses, with the now legendary “Your whole
life is in that line. Your identity as a singer”, and we all know that most remember
Dio for the introductory lyrics of that memorable song. Dickinson understood
that, regardless of ego occasionally being necessary for him to become what he
is today, to control thousands of people in the audience while on stage and
confront those who had disparaged him as a singer, ego is superfluous on
entering the studio. In the studio, you have to strip down to nothing, to allow the
song to occupy and carry you, to become almost a painter who is painting the
audience a picture. And if anything tells a story, it’s a Maiden song. Bruce took in
all this information from Birch, then walked back into the recording booth and
killed the song. 'The Number of the Beast' is a classic today, a song that is almost
the band’s identity, and a mirror of Bruce’s own identity and his singing career.
That’s why he didn’t hesitate in saying “Martin was like a guru to me, and
everyone in Maiden at the time.”

When your career credits contain albums like ‘Machine Head', 'Rising', 'Slide
It In', 'Heaven and Hell' and 'The Number of the Beast', you can certainly say
you’ve been successful – and Birch worked on at least three times as many
equally cult-level albums. The story of his life is the story of a man who shaped
and branded the sound of an entire genre that remains relevant and constant
even today in the face of advanced recording technology. I’ll write more
about him in one of my future books, ‘Live After Death’.

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The years passed and album followed album, success followed success. But
even then, the always dissatisfied media was becoming saturated with
Maiden’s successful pattern for a good sound. During the ‘Somewhere in
Time’ era, the period of their biggest successes with Martin Birch, the media
started asking uncomfortable questions. When Nelly Saupiquet of French
Hard Rock magazine asked ‘how much is Martin Birch really involved in Iron
Maiden’, Steve Harris responded “Oh, a lot of producers are nothing but
sound engineers. They sit at the mixing table and don't do anything more. I
couldn't bear it. I'd go, "Are you alright, mate? Don't you wanna do even
less?" Martin Birch, on the other hand, is a sound engineer, but not just any
sound engineer. He's got Maiden's sound in him! He's fantastic, and there
aren't so many like him. It would be terrible if we had to do without him, if he
didn't have time for us. I perfectly well know that he'll always be available for
us, but just thinking about it gives me the shivers.” Saupiquet also attempted
to provoke a response to ‘why always Martin’, and is it not time for a new
producer and new challenges, to which the answer was immediate and clear:
“I don't think the others would want to work with someone else than Martin.
Why look elsewhere for something that we already have and that suits us
perfectly? The way he works with us and his production fit perfectly to what
Iron Maiden expect from a producer. Martin has been with us for a long time
now, and he knows us like the back of his hand, he understands our music,
our lyrics, and he knows how to make them sound good. I don't think that
Mutt Lange, for instance, could get along with us as well as Martin does.”
Harris also added: “Unlike some other producers, Martin doesn't try to turn
the songs upside-down. Changing our producer wouldn't really be a new
challenge. The sound wouldn't be the same, of course, but our music would
still be the same.”

And so it was… When Birch departed, Iron Maiden’s music remained the same,
but the sound was never again so magnificent, and many fans called for his return
in some capacity until the sad news in August 2020. Rod Smallwood bid Martin
Birch farewell with the following words: “He was a fantastic guy who always
shared a mutual respect with the band. He never, ever, let us down in the studio.
He was a true gentleman and he will be hugely missed by everyone in the Maiden
Family." He couldn’t have put it better, with the addition that Martin also never
let down the fans – his vision for Maiden’s sound that began with ‘Killers’ still
keeps us united to this day – and that’s his greatest legacy!

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DETAILS OF TWILIGHT ZONE


Imagine an Iron Maiden album, especially today, that doesn’t contain at least
one long, epic song the like of which only they are capable. Such an album
exists – it’s called ‘Killers’. When you debut release reaches number 4 with
hits out of time like ‘Running Free’, ‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Remember Tomorrow’ and
‘Phantom of the Opera’, and its follow-up is sandwiched between it and the
legendary 'The Number of the Beast', a record that defined an entire genre, it
must be a special album indeed to be remembered in any way.

Following his debut on a German TV show and some hardening on a short


tour of the UK, the band’s newcomer Adrian Smith joined the rest of the lads
in November 1980 as they locked themselves away in London’s Battery Studio
in an attempt to do their best for this album to surpass its predecessor. Martin
Birch, already crowned in glory, an incredibly creative Derek Riggs and the
never thirstier band members were a guarantee that something had to
happen, something to launch Iron Maiden from the UK and into the great
wide world. Having just got rid of guitarist Dennis Stratton, Maiden released
the single ‘Women in Uniform’ and the accompanying video Dennis appears
in, just as they would release the ‘Maiden Japan’ live EP with Di’Anno on
vocals just after his departure, a whole slew of live videos and albums when
Bruce Dickinson left, and the non-album single release ‘Virus’ just before Blaze
Bayley’s farewell. It was a way to ease the transition and avoid negativity in the
press. For the iconic illustration for the ‘Women in Uniform’ single, a cover of
Australian band Skyhooks, Derek again painted Margaret Thatcher, this time as
a zombie bent on avenging her murder on an earlier single’s cover. Fans loved
these stories told through cover art and it led them to collecting even in the
band’s earliest days, but the song’s intent this time was to serve as a tampon
zone – a single to fill the void as the new album was recorded and close out the
distinct era of post-punk sound and their early production.

With ‘Women in Uniform’, Maiden started another tradition of sorts: that of


recording covers of obscure or lesser-known songs, usually as single B-sides.
However, the style and energy of ‘Women in Uniform’ fit well with everything
that would come on ‘Killers’. Production-wise it was half-way to what Iron

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Maiden would offer on ‘Killers’. Martin Birch and in-house engineer Nigel
Green – then known as Nigel Hewitt, he would go on to produce albums
recorded with Blaze Bayley – enabled the band to feel relaxed and carry some
of the live experience over to the recording, with some later correction of
minor mistakes and re-recordings. This approach served not only to turn Iron
Maiden into a ‘machine’ for perfect concert performances, but transferred all
their energy to the album, showing them that they would be ready for bigger
horizons soon enough. The album consists mainly of songs Maiden had been
playing for years, many of them penned in author Steve Harris’s early 20s.
Only the instrumental ‘Genghis Khan’, ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ and
‘Twilight Zone’ were written ‘on the fly’, possibly explaining why ‘Genghis
Khan’ is the second instrumental on the album.

At the time, Maiden had made just one video – that for ‘Women in Uniform’,
so they had nothing better to present the new material with than the live
recording of ‘Wrathchild’, taken from the 1980 ‘Live at the Rainbow’ video
and often in rotation on the new music video channel, MTV. It’s why the song
became a hit despite never being released as an A-side single. ‘Twilight Zone’
was planned for a B-side but proved to be just too good for that, so it was
released as an official single, both songs ultimately categorized as ‘double A

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side’ singles. Steve Harris provided some additional explanations: “We had a
live version of us doing ‘Wrathchild’ at the Rainbow, before Christmas, on
video that we could use. We couldn't afford to pay for another video for
‘Twilight Zone’, so we did a double A-side, because we knew we were gonna
be off touring a lot and, if by any chance they wanted us on ‘Top of the
Pops’ again, at least we'd got a video for ‘Wrathchild’ we could give them.”

For those unfamiliar with the ‘double A-side’ concept, it is used when the
artist wants to release a single containing two songs from the same album,
where one is not the standard B-side, usually a live performance or covers
that didn’t make the final album release. This practice has been somewhat
abandoned, and Maiden didn’t use it on their next single ‘Purgatory’ in spite
of it containing two identical songs to the album.

In a 2020 interview, Adrian Smith told Eonmusic that the song was recorded
very quickly, emphasising that the song’s tempo was almost borderline
unplayable, and it’s interesting that according to Adrian, he contributed to
this song by writing its well-known guitar harmonies, in spite of not being
given a co-author credit. The song itself is a love song, suggesting that
Margaret Thatcher sent Eddie to ‘the other side’ as was hinted on the cover
of the recently released ‘Women in Uniform’, and now he was returning to
his beloved as a ghost. The fans, ever loving a chance to analyse, soon realized
this was Charlotte, the prostitute who appears in a song on the first album
and continues to pop up throughout Iron Maiden’s career.

Although I don’t spend too much time strictly analysing data about official
album releases, let me give a brief overview of the differences between
various editions of ‘Killers’. The original UK edition contains 10 tracks, while
the North American edition plays ‘Twilight Zone’ right after ‘Killers’. In the
Australian edition its place is taken by ‘Women in Uniform’ because the
original performers were an Australian band. The bonus disc of the 1995 UK
edition contains ‘Twilight Zone’, ‘Women in Uniform’, ‘Invasion’ and
‘Phantom of the Opera (live)’, while the US bonus disc is missing ‘Twilight
Zone’ but has all five songs from the live EP ‘Maiden Japan’ – ‘Running Free’,
‘Remember Tomorrow’, ‘Wrathchild’, ‘Killers’ and ‘Innocent Exile’. The 1998
worldwide remastered release also contains ‘Twilight Zone’, the song’s first

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appearance on the same CD in Europe and the world, which was still no
guarantee that later editions would also carry the song – it’s not on the 2014
vinyls or remastered iTunes editions, nor on the 2018 digipack release, etc.
The most interesting story here is that of the Japanese edition, where
‘Twilight Zone’ appears but the title was mistakenly printed as ‘Details of
Twilight Zone’. This happened because the Japanese publisher received a
telex explaining that the song would have to be included on the album. The
subject of the letter was ‘Details of Twilight Zone’, the publisher mistook this
for the full title of the song and released it a month after the original record,
while the band was in the middle of their UK tour and not concentrating
enough to notice this and point it out.

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While we’re on the subject of ‘Twilight Zone’, here’s a bit of curiosity about
the single. When Maiden released their fourth single in total and the first from
‘Killers’, they can’t have dreamed the price one of its editions would fetch
some forty years later. This single, for a song that was not included in
European editions of ‘Killers’, was added to the North American edition that
came out somewhat later, because at the time, Iron Maiden were still not a
big enough name to be able to release singles in that region. The song is
credited as ‘produced by Iron Maiden’, and showcases the band’s transition
period from the first album to the second, on which the classic Maiden sound
they would achieve with producer Martin Birch is already audible. There are
mere hints here of the collaboration from Adrian Smith, the newcomer, and
how it would assist Maiden down their chosen path of world domination.
More famous versions of the 7’ single were printed on black, red and clear
vinyl in Great Britain, while there’s also a well-known 12’ German edition.
However, there are more than ten different versions available commercially,
including the first Yugoslavian Iron Maiden single, not to mention the
multitude of promotional and ‘white label’ copies that were shipped off to
radio stations, business partners, journalists, various clubs and other people
within the music industry. If we’re looking for the most sought-after Maiden
editions and memorabilia of all time, however, then we need the legendary
‘brown vinyl’ edition that was created by mistake – with the wrong mix of
colours at the vinyl plant. It is believed that just a handful are still around
today, a good indication being the last eBay auction in 2020, where a dirty
brown vinyl was sold for more than 8.300 USD.

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Looking at them objectively and especially with hindsight, both ‘Twilight Zone’
and ‘Wrathchild’ are in fact A-side songs. ‘Wrathchild’, many will agree, has
an unrepeatable bass intro and groove, and it’s no wonder it’s stuck around
on Maiden set lists for as long as it has. It has sadly never been honoured with
an illustration, which it truly deserves. With these two songs, it became clear
to both the fans and the press that Iron Maiden definitely weren’t just
‘another NWOBHM’ or generic metal band and that their music had that
‘something special’ to connect fierce and classical, and that the band itself,
with their ever more theatrical performances, had become a traveling rock
opera of the highest class. Although not an integral part of the album and not
produced by Martin Birch, ‘Twilight Zone’ fits the structure and sound, even
the theme of ‘Killers’. Moreover, Derek Riggs directly connects it to the main
story on the single cover, additionally drawing attention to it.

This single, with its 31st place chart position, the second best-selling Iron
Maiden single after ‘Sanctuary’, was released on 27/10/1980 to further
promote the second leg of the British tour. It has an atmospheric illustration,
something I go into more detail in the chapter of this books devoted to Derek
Riggs’ work on ‘Killers’. The illustration appears as one side of a picture disc
on a limited vinyl edition from 2012. As Martin Birch was unavailable while
this song was being recorded, the band decided to produce it without him
and it’s possibly this fact – their pride in the end result – led to the decision
that ‘Twilight Zone’ could be a good first single instead of ‘Wrathchild’ Dave
Murray is again credited as the co-author, a rare occurrence, and in spite of
its fierce rhythm the song is lyrically steeped in an atmosphere of sadness and
loss. What’s the song actually about? Initially, it is about a spirit in Purgatory,
yearning for his beloved who is still alive. The first lyrics say:

She lays in bed at night and that is when I make my call


But when she stares at me, she can't see nothing at all
Because, you see, I can't take no shape or form
It's been three long years since I've been gone

In the early 1960s, an American TV series became popular across the world.
It was called ‘The Twilight Zone’ and the song was most likely named for the
show. I used to ‘devour’ this show as a kid, since it was broadcast in Yugoslavia
in the mid-1980s – and if anyone asked, the episode that left an indelible mark

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in my memory was certainly ‘Night Call’. Wikipedia says: ‘Night Call’ is a 1964
episode of the American television anthology series ‘The Twilight
Zone’ directed by Jacques Tourneur. The story follows an elderly woman,
played by Gladys Cooper, who receives persistent disturbing phone calls from
an anonymous caller. It is based on Richard Matheson's 1961 short story,
‘Long Distance Call’, although it ends much differently.

Every 'Twilight Zone' episode began with a narration, and this one reminds
me a lot of the Iron Maiden song: ‘Miss Elva Keene lives alone on the outskirts
of London Flats, a tiny rural community in Maine. Up until now, the pattern of
Miss Keene's existence has been that of lying in her bed or sitting in her
wheelchair, reading books, listening to a radio, eating, napping, taking
medication—and waiting for something different to happen. Miss Keene
doesn't know it yet, but her period of waiting has just ended, for something
different is about to happen to her, has in fact already begun to happen, via
two most unaccountable telephone calls in the middle of a stormy night,
telephone calls routed directly through—the Twilight Zone.’

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For those who might want to know more about the episode and possibly watch
it to enhance the experience of listening to the Iron Maiden song, here’s a brief
synopsis: “An elderly woman, Elva Keene, receives strange anonymous phone
calls in the middle of a stormy night. During the first calls she hears only static.
Later she hears a man moaning and she repeatedly demands to know who is
calling. The man continues to call and keeps repeating "Hello?" over and over.
Finally he says, "Hello? Where are you? I want to talk to you." Elva, terrified,
screams at the man to leave her alone. The phone company traces the calls to a
telephone line that has fallen in a cemetery. Elva and her housekeeper, who
believes the calls are the result of a bad connection, visit the cemetery where
she finds that the line is resting on the grave of her long-deceased fiancé, Brian
Douglas. Elva says that she always insisted on having her own way, and Brian
always did what she said. Brian died a week before they were to be married.
That day, she insisted on driving, lost control of the car and hit a tree. The
accident crippled her and caused Brian to fly through the windshield, killing him.
Now that she can talk to him again, she won't have to be alone. At home, she
picks up the phone and calls to Brian's ghost, pleading with him to answer. He
replies that she told him to leave her alone and that he always does what she
says. Then the line goes dead, leaving Elva alone and crying in her bed.”

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One of the most memorable episodes of ‘The Twilight Zone’ probably


influenced a young Harris, who decided to write his own version, slightly
modified again from the original. The spirit of the deceased has been gone for
three years and yearns for his former love, but cannot take a corporeal form,
trapped between our world and Purgatory, in a place he calls ‘The Twilight
Zone’. In his attempts and inability to show himself to the woman he’s haunting,
he waits for her to die and finally join him beyond the grave – even implying
that he might somehow speed up the process that would lead to her death.

Illustrator Derek Riggs caused an uproar and controversy at the time, even
from some representatives of the media, who didn’t make an attempt to
understand the term ‘twilight zone’ or read the lyrics of the song – he became
a target for criticism about perceived sexism. As it happens, controversy and
a media outcry only led to the band getting more attention. On the other
hand, thanks to minute details on the illustration, the fans recognised that
the young, scantily dressed woman Eddie is murderously stalking must be the
prostitute ‘Charlotte’, who appeared in the first album song ‘Charlotte the
Harlot’ and would pop up again in ’22 Acacia Avenue’ and several others.

The second song from this single, ‘Wrathchild’ opens with one of the most
memorable bass intros in rock history. It’s believed to be one of Maiden’s
oldest songs – together with ‘Iron Maiden’ it is the only song all Iron Maiden’s
singers have performed – and the first publically available recordings date as
far back as 1977, where it’s obvious the song was somewhat slower. It has
deep roots in funk and certainly paved the way for bands like Primus who use
plenty of funky rhythms. Some make a connection between its rhythm and
construction and that of Deep Purple’s ‘Stormbringer’, even with Judas
Priest’s ‘Killing Machine’. Although there is a certain atmospheric similarity
with Deep Purple’s song, the earlier version of this song shows entirely
different roots. This is the only ‘Killers’ song to have found its way onto the
live rotation, and Dave Murray, Clive Burr, Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson,
Nicko McBrain and Blaze Bayley all had to learn it for their audition. The song
has been covered many times, most famously by Six Feet Under who included
it on their 1999 reissue of the album ‘Maximum Violence’. The song is also
included with the popular video game ‘Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s’,
and is also the only ‘Killers’ song to have been professionally recorded before
the album, released on the 1979 ‘Metal for Muthas’ compilation, which is why

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it didn’t make the cut of Iron Maiden’s debut album. Namely, the band felt
that the compilation release was too close to their own release date and that
it would be pointless to include a song that was already available. Many have
wondered what the lyrics of ‘Wrathchild’ are about, since the obvious
interpretation is that of a child abandoned by his father, who is now an adult,
angry, searching, possibly with violent intentions. Taken into account that a
young Steve wrote song when he was aged about 20 and that it probably isn’t
about anything in particular outside the basic premise, these lyrics stood out
the most and tickled fans’ imaginations:

I was born into a scene of angriness and greed


And dominance and persecution
My mother was a queen, my dad I've never seen
I was never meant to be

Considering that Steve Harris’s life doesn’t allow for an autobiographical


interpretation of the lyrics, many link the term ‘queen’ with the so called
‘queens of the night’ or prostitution – especially since words like angriness,
greed, and dominance are also used. There are other theories – taking into
account that the song is connected to the instrumental ‘Ides of March’,
Maiden’s shortest song to date, it’s not unthinkable that ‘Ides’ really is an
extended intro, its name suggesting what ‘Wrathchild’ might be about. ‘Ides
of March’ is linked to the date 15/03 and it’s possible the reference is to the
famous warning ‘Beware the Ides of March’ from Shakespeare’s ‘Julius
Caesar’ – the date on which Julius Caesar was murdered by Brutus – who
might in fact be the Wrathchild from the Maiden song. A final theory concerns
the ever looming (on this album) Edgar Allan Poe, whose influence on this
album and Iron Maiden in general I’ll be discussing in the next chapter. Poe’s
parents were actors. His mother, Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe passed away
at the young age of 23 or 24, before Poe himself turned three. His father had
abandoned the family before Poe’s first birthday. Edgar spent his whole life
searching for his father and only when he was 30, in 1839, did he mention in
a letter that his father had died in 1811, when Poe was just two. Historians
assume he passed away just three days after Poe’s mother, aged 27, but his
tags were removed from the family histories after he abandoned his family.
Poe’s mother Elizabeth appeared in many of Shakespeare’s plays – as Juliet
(‘Romeo and Juliet’), Ophelia (‘Hamlet’), Cordelia (‘King Lear’) – this can

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potentially be linked with those first lines of ‘Wrathchild’. Although I doubt


Harris was quite so involved in the early phase of his creative process, and I
don’t see these theories as something to base conclusions about lyrics and
ideas, they’re still important to the investigative process that reached millions
of fans worldwide. Namely, the specificity of Iron Maiden lyrics and their
frequent allusions to historical events, literary works, films and other forms of
art have spurred a legion of fans to read literature, encyclopaedias on history,
war, aviation, navy and other topics, to watch movies and go to the theatre,
educating themselves in all sorts of ways. This is the true value bestowed on the
world by Iron Maiden over the course of almost half a century.

The same is true of ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’, which Steve put together from
several smaller musical passages in the early days of the band. However, he
didn’t write the lyrics until late 1980, after he saw the 1932 film of the same
name. The song has been performed on tour by all three singers, in Blaze’s case
mostly during the 1998 tour in France. More on this song in a separate chapter.

The next track, ‘Another Life’, is one of Maiden’s weirder songs, with a triple
repetition of the text, filled with helplessness, depression and suicidal
thoughts. It begs the question (although this is not a concept album) did the
linking thought – the mention of murders and killers through various events
and experiences – get to the point where they had to include suicide as
another form of killing? This song was often used in the press as a specific
example why ‘Killers’ was a worse album and less inventive in comparison to
the debut effort, mostly for the repetitive lyrics.

I’ll write about ‘Innocent Exile’, thematically a sequel to ‘Murders in the Rue
Morgue’ to the point where there are direct links. The lyrics hint at the laying of
blame on an unspecified third party for not being present at a critical moment
to calm the protagonist as he was accused of something he claims he did not
do, causing him to become a fugitive. Here, too, we notice an unnecessary
repetition of lyrics, as though the song was rushed and incomplete, but in an
odd way this even complements the experience of the song, giving it a deeper
feeling of running from the law. Also, my next chapter covers a possible idea
behind ‘Prodigal Son’, one of only two songs Steve Harris composed using an
acoustic guitar, with the recommendation that you go and listen to Genesis’s
ballad ‘Lamia’. Harris has been a Genesis fan since that song’s release, and as

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‘Prodigal Son’ mentions Lamia by name, the indirect link between the two songs
is obvious, especially taking into account that this is the only light, acoustic song
on the album. Written in late 1977, this song was performed at Dennis Wilcox’s
final gigs and Paul Di’Anno’s first ones, something he confirmed in an interview
for Metal Thunder Radio. Both he and roadie Steve Newhouse confirmed
playing this song in early 1979 at the Ruskin Arms, and there’s a bootleg
recording dated as early as April 1978. The band stopped playing the song live
in 1979, and it was almost forgotten. However, EMI Records representatives
suggested to Iron Maiden that every rock album has to have at least one light
song and that’s probably why it found its way onto the track list.

The second to last song, ‘Purgatory’ was the second single to be released from
‘Killers’, and also the last with Paul Di’Anno as vocal. This is a speeded up
version of an early Maiden song called ‘Floating’. In 1987, Steve Harris said:
“I've got audio tapes that go right back from '76, not right from the first gigs,
but from the days when we used to play places like the Bridge House. They're
a bit dodgy. There's a version of ‘Purgatory’, which was then called ‘Floating’
and it had an arrangement that was a bit different.” With its fast tempo,
especially when played live, the song was a massive influence on both the
speed and thrash metal genres as we know them today. The single wasn’t
particularly successful, not even breaking the top 50, something that set off
alarm bells and spurred the band to make some urgent changes. Manager
Rod Smallwood did his best to calm the situation, saying the result was
expected, it wasn’t a special single that had something that wasn’t already on
the album, as the release contained two songs identical to the album versions.
The second track on the single was the instrumental ‘Genghis Khan’. As the
story goes – leaked by Rod Smallwood, Derek Riggs allegedly painted the
cover art for this single, but it was so impressive they decided to keep it for
'The Number of the Beast' and made Derek paint a new one. I’ve discussed
how true that story is, and how plausible, in my book 'The Number of the
Beast'. What makes ‘Purgatory’ interesting is that the complete lyrics of the
song are repeated twice with the bridge, before the chorus kicks in. This is a
frequent occurrence on ‘Killers’, and the main reason the album doesn’t get
higher praise from critics and fans.

On the other hand, ‘Genghis Khan’ is an instrumental song that can pass for the
great Mongol warrior’s (1162-1227) battle simulation, with its unusual rhythm

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and force. It begins with solemn, fanfare like, military rhythms, only to flame in all
its glory thanks to Clive’s unbeatable drumming. It’s also specific for its sudden
changes in tempo and, despite its being an instrumental, being more led by riffs
than the melody. The final 80 sec. of the song are one of the best instrumental
parts of ‘Killers’. According to Nicko McBrain, the song was written quickly as filler
for ‘Killers’ and its initial title was ‘Jenkin’s Barn’, while Harris says he had lyrics at
one point. More on the possible idea for the song’s title in the next chapter.

The final song on the album and one of Iron Maiden’s oldest, ‘Drifter’ can be
described as the conclusion of the killers and murder theme. All the texts of
the previous songs are sickening, depressive, a paranoid fear and terror are
felt, but this song gives a ray of hope for a possible new beginning. The
protagonist will continue to wander and sing his song, calling on others to sing
with him. He claims that as long as they’re singing, nothing can go wrong…
The song could be about the band’s own wandering and spreading their
message to the world through song. This song is great for live performances
and both Paul Di’Anno and Bruce Dickinson used it as a vehicle to interact
with the fans through the famous ‘Yo, yo, yo’ part. If you listen to ‘Walking on
the Moon’ by the Police, a bit hit at the time, you’ll notice the yo, yo-s are a
joke of sorts at the expense of the end of that song. This reggae style song
was penned by Sting during a drunken bender, a day before the band played
in Munich, and he managed to remember it the next hungover morning. The
song was recorded in 1979 together with a comical video at the Kennedy
Space Center in Florida – only to reach the top of the UK chart.

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IN THE SHADOW OF E.A. POE


A cursory glance at Maiden's entire discography would lead many to conclude
that the only link between them and Edgar Allan Poe is the song ‘Murders in the
Rue Morgue’ from the album ‘Killers’. However, looking closer, Poe's shadow
has hung over them since the band’s very beginnings, and has remained there
throughout their careers. In the early days, Maiden wrote songs whose plots
were connected or complemented each other, and it was almost an unwritten
rule; the second song in any such set has always been more commercially
successful. We need only remember ‘Invasion’ from the demo days, which was
upgraded on the third album and renamed ‘Invaders’, or ‘Floating’ which later
grew into ‘Purgatory’. The famous ‘Charlotte the Harlot’ became ‘22 Acacia
Avenue’, while the same could be said of ‘Sanctuary’, which in addition to
becoming one of the band's favourites, inspired Maiden’s management to
name their company after the song – and received a sort of spiritual sequel in
the song ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’. Apart from the having the same title,
the song and Edgar Allan Poe’s story share a location – Paris – and little else
except in certain segments which I will discuss in more detail in the analysis of
this song – see the next chapter. However, the plot mirrors that of ‘Sanctuary’,
which similarly addresses the theme of a probable witness to a crime, who was
seen and accidentally mistaken for the perpetrator by someone else. The
protagonist is now a fugitive from the law and in search of refuge.

This song was originally released on the ‘Metal for Muthas’ compilation, then
as a single which came out a month after the release of the first album. It was
later found only on the original US release of the first album, because Iron
Maiden didn’t have a single for the first album in the US, so including
‘Sanctuary’ on the album was a wise move. In the UK and the rest of Europe,
the song wasn’t included on the first album until its 1998 re-release. In
addition to ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’, a similar theme can also be seen in
‘Innocent Exile’ from ‘Killers’ and ‘The Fugitive’ from ‘Fear of the Dark’, which
was inspired by the TV series of the same name, although it is best known
worldwide from the 1993 Oscar-winning film. It would appear that Steve
Harris was clearly very fond of topics like this, and Poe's stories were certainly
inspiring to him.

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The opening verses of the song ‘Sanctuary’ have an unusual structure where
almost every stanza is also the chorus, followed by another chorus, in fact
telling us the whole essence of the song.

Out of winter came a warhorse of steel


I've never killed a woman before
but I know how it feels
I know you'd have gone insane
If you saw what I saw
But now I've got to look for
Sanctuary from the law

Taken in the context of the lyrics of ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’, released
on ‘Killers’ a year later, these lyrics perfectly complement each other:

I remember it as plain as day


Although it happened in the dark of the night.
I was strolling through the streets of Paris
And it was cold it was starting to rain

Even comparing the little things, they work: like the fact that the first song is set
in the winter and the second mentions a cold, rainy night in Paris. The protagonist
hears loud cries and runs to the place they came from, only to find the bodies of
two butchered women. He calls for help and some people run to him, but they all
point the finger at him, thinking he was the killer because of the blood on his
hands, stained as he tried to save the victims. As a stranger and unable to explain
what had happened, he flies, choosing southern Italy as the place he might would
best hide (hence the allusion to the Mafia) – this is the backbone of the later story.
The following verse best relates the stories of both songs.

Well I made it to the border at last


But I can't erase the scene from my mind
Anytime somebody stares at me, well
I just start running blind

At this point, we must move on to another story, Poe’s excellent, even


masterful ‘Imp of Perverse’. In its lengthy introduction, he describes a kind of

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perverse need of a man who has committed a crime, the most perfect crime
that could never be solved, a strange urge that means he will eventually
expose himself, perhaps even just to boast of the perfection with which he
concealed all trace of the murder. Read the last verses from the previous page
again, then read the final part of that story, in which the killer walks among
people with a panicked feeling that everyone is staring at him, knowing what
he did, even though the crime is perfectly concealed and see how similar they
are, in lyrics and the whole atmosphere.

One day, whilst sauntering along the streets, I arrested myself in the act of
murmuring, half aloud, these customary syllables. In a fit of petulance, I
remodelled them thus; “I am safe -- I am safe -- yes -- if I be not fool enough
to make open confession!”

No sooner had I spoken these words, than I felt an icy chill creep to my heart.
I had had some experience in these fits of perversity, (whose nature I have
been at some trouble to explain), and I remembered well that in no instance I
had successfully resisted their attacks. And now my own casual self-
suggestion that I might possibly be fool enough to confess the murder of which
I had been guilty, confronted me, as if the very ghost of him whom I had
murdered -- and beckoned me on to death.

At first, I made an effort to shake off this nightmare of the soul. I walked
vigorously -- faster -- still faster -- at length I ran. I felt a maddening desire to
shriek aloud. Every succeeding wave of thought overwhelmed me with new
terror, for, alas! I well, too well understood that to think, in my situation, was
to be lost. I still quickened my pace. I bounded like a madman through the
crowded thoroughfares. At length, the populace took the alarm, and pursued
me. I felt then the consummation of my fate. Could I have torn out my tongue,
I would have done it, but a rough voice resounded in my ears -- a rougher
grasp seized me by the shoulder. I turned -- I gasped for breath. For a moment
I experienced all the pangs of suffocation; I became blind, and deaf, and giddy;
and then some invisible fiend, I thought, struck me with his broad palm upon
the back. The long imprisoned secret burst forth from my soul.

They say that I spoke with a distinct enunciation, but with marked emphasis
and passionate hurry, as if in dread of interruption before concluding the brief,

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but pregnant sentences that consigned me to the hangman and to hell. Having
related all that was necessary for the fullest judicial conviction, I fell prostrate
in a swoon. But why shall I say more? Today I wear these chains, and am here!
Tomorrow I shall be fetterless! -- but where?

Reading the original ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’, it is very easy to see
that there is no mention of someone discovered at a crime scene, who now
has to save his (innocent) self and go on the run – the killer is an orangutan.
Harris took the crime scene and the murder of two young women by an
unknown person from the original story. The rest is entirely his own fiction
and a sequel to the story, where he very likely mixed aspects of both ‘Imp of
Perverse’ and ‘Man of the Crowd’ into this song, thereby creating his own
hybrid. On the same album is the song ‘Innocent Exile’ which we can consider
as a kind of further extension of this theme like with ‘Sanctuary’. Consider the
verse:

I'm running away, nowhere to go


I'm lost and tired and I just don't know. Yeah...
They say I killed a woman, they know it isn't true
They're just trying to frame me, and all because of you. Yeah...

While I’ll describe the entire writing process of the lyrics of ‘Murders in the
Rue Morgue’ in the chapter that follows, for now I would like to draw your
attention to a song that is rarely mentioned and which has remained a
mystery among Maiden fans to this day. It is the only completely light and
dreamy Maiden song, in that its lyrics can be said to be more like the poetic
verses than lyrics for a composed song. It's called ‘Strange World’ and was
released on the band's first album. From the very structure of the lyrics, the
rhythm of the poem, the perfect rhyme and the balanced metric, anyone who
knows Poe's works will recognise them. Mostly his later works, such as the
prose poem ‘Eureka’ or his interesting work ‘The Island of Fay’. If you read
poems like ‘Dream-Land’, ‘Fairy-Land’, ‘The One in Paradise’ and similar, you
will definitely notice the exact same themes, scenes, descriptions and
atmosphere. Given that the whole of ‘Strange World’ has some dreamy-
utopian vibe with a futuristic sound suited to space travel, let's make note of
this fact from Wikipedia:

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He wasn’t just a writer. Poe quite enjoyed space and cosmology, even writing
an essay in 1848. called 'Eureka: A Prose Poem.' In the essay, he proposed a
theory that was way before its time: The Big Bang, something that would be
formally theorized some 80 years later. When he published this work, he
considered it to be his career’s masterpiece.

In principle, although written in its entirety by Steve Harris except for one
lyrics collaboration with singer Paul Di'Anno, ‘Killers’ cannot be said to be a
concept album. That said, it does follow a theme in which killers, murder,
suicide, even murderous anger, viewed from the perspective of the victim,
the killer, or the collateral victim, are present throughout the album. Many of
the songs from ‘Killers’ existed long before the first album was recorded,
when Harris was barely of age, and they were simply remnants of many a
performance when they were finally pressed into an album. This fact alone
separates them from any possibility that there was conceptual deliberation in
the making of the album, but since it was mostly written by one person, it is
of course possible that this person – Harris – was playing the same movie in
his head which made the album's theme was somewhat uniform. But what
does this have to do with Poe's influence on Harris, and which of his works
can we recognise on this album? The following is from the website
‘maidencommentary’, an excellent fan page about ‘Killers’:

It is an interesting and complex thread, which explores the ‘Killers’ concept


from several different perspectives including the angry searcher, the fleeing
suspect, the innocently accused, the cold-blooded killer, the repentant
disciple, and finally the reformed drifter. In this sense, with a bit of imagination
the album can be viewed as a progression beginning with anger and violence
and ending with repentance and reformation.

Many fans naturally associate the song ‘The Ides of March’ with March 15,
the date on which Brutus murders Caesar in Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’. This
murder for gain with hidden motives can also correlate with the song
‘Wrathchild’ with ‘The Ides of March’ acting as an instrumental intro of sorts,
as well as for the fact that Brutus himself might fit the characterization of a
‘Wrathchild’.

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In his writing, Poe often describes murderers, murderous thoughts, crimes and
criminal minds, frequently using detailed descriptions in the first-person so that
readers could experience a level of self-insertion and almost directly witness
the unspeakable horrors going on in the minds of either criminal or victim.
Somehow, it turns out that most people today encounter Poe in high school as
part of their compulsory reading assignments. Some are hooked immediately,
others aren’t. ‘Killers’, which Harris wrote in his early twenties, shows Poe's
influence in many places, though it may not necessarily be the case that a
Maiden song is directly connected to his work, like the instrumental ‘Genghis
Khan’. As a military genius, Genghis Khan certainly deserves to be included in
Iron Maiden’s discography, given that many of their works focus on the subject
of wars and warriors, but whatever death Genghis Khan left in his wake that can
be linked to the overarching theme of the album, many forget that it was Edgar
Allan Poe who wrote the famous poem ‘Tamerlane’, about Genghis Khan’s cruel
heir and mentions Genghis himself. And famous poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
whose cult poem Iron Maiden recorded as one of their most iconic songs ‘Rime
of the Ancient Mariner’, wrote the poem ‘Kubla Khan’ about the famous
Mongol emperor, grandson of Genghis Khan. ‘Everything is connected’ is a
famous catchphrase in the Netflix series ‘Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective
Agency’, and in this case we can certainly agree.

The idea for a character named ‘Lamia’ in Iron Maiden’s song ‘Prodigal Son’
may have come from the eponymous poem by English poet John Keats, a
poem that greatly influenced Poe to write his famous sonnet ‘To Science’. In
Greek mythology, Lamia was a monster from Hades’ underworld, half-woman
and half-snake, going to the earth’s surface at night and stealing children from
their mothers, killing them and drinking their blood. In modern
interpretations, she is in possession of magical objects or knows information
necessary to the hero of the story on their journey. The hero must avoid her,
deceive her, or gain her affections in order to obtain what he/she needs. This
might serve as the plot for ‘Prodigal Son’, as the protagonist begs Lamia for
help throughout the song, finally saying the following:

Oh Lamia please try to help me


The devil's got a hold of my soul and he won't let me be
Lamia I've got this curse, I'm turning to bad
The devil's got a hold of my soul, and it's driving me mad. Oh

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It is through these lyrics that the protagonist, a fugitive and potentially a


murderer gets a grip on himself, confronts his crime, and ‘backed into a
corner’ admits that he did it all, begging for help, but within Lamia’s
paranormal, magical limits. Moreover, this untangling of the threads of ‘the
innocent fugitive’ story is subtly inserted into the closing verses of both
‘Sanctuary’ and ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’. Let’s look at both:

I can laugh at the wind


I can howl at the rain
Down in the canyon or out on the plains

***
It took so long and I'm getting so tired
I'm running out of places to hide
Should I return to the scene of the crime
Where the two young victims died
If I could go to somebody for help
It'd get me out of trouble for sure
But I know that it's on my mind
That my doctor said I've done it before.

If we comb through more Maiden history, the song ‘Still Life’ from the album
‘Piece of Mind’ is a summary of everything Poe talks about in the story ‘Imp
of Perverse’: the urge to self-destruct can be clearly read there. The cover of
the album ‘Live after Death’ was probably subconsciously inspired by old
illustrations of Poe's literary hit ‘The Premature Burial’, as was the cover of
the album ‘No Prayer for the Dying’, which incidentally depicts the exact
scene from that story. Harris began exploring the topic of Purgatory at the
very beginning of his musical career, first with ‘Floating’, which he later
supplemented with ‘Purgatory’ and continued to do so in the song ‘Heaven Can
Wait’ from the album ‘Somewhere in Time’. Poe, as we know, wrote many
poems and stories about the afterlife, like ‘Ligeia’, ‘Mesmeric Revelations’, etc.
and about purgatory, which is the theme of his longest poem, ‘Al Aaraaf’.

Looking at Blaze Bayley’s tenure with the band, special attention should be
paid to the song ‘When Two Worlds Collide’, whose theme was first covered
in Poe's excellent 1839 story ‘The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion’ and

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which is clearly visible in Maiden’s updated version. Interestingly, two disaster


movies were released in the same year as ‘Virtual XI’, the album that features
this song. ‘Deep Impact’ and ‘Armageddon’ are just another coincidence given
that ‘Virtual XI came out several months before either – unless Steve Harris
knew they were being made and deliberately recorded a song with a similar
theme to offer it to the producers, in the hope that listing them on a movie
soundtrack during a period of declining popularity for the band would reverse
their fortunes. However, this did not happen. On this album, we can also single
out the song ‘Don't Look to the Eyes of a Stranger’, which fits both in theme and
in feel and feels like an extension of the song ‘Killers’. In the post-2000 era, fans
were attracted by the unfinished cover of the album ‘Dance of Death’, which
reflected the songs on the album, Maiden deliberately released a raw,
unfinished recording, enraging the illustrators so much that they refused to be
credited for the cover design. Many interpret this in two ways: some advocate
for the idea that the band’s inspiration came from legendary filmmaker Stanley
Kubrick’s film ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, but a large number of fans insist it actually
draws on Poe's famous 'Masque of the Red Death’, as the scene in the picture
irresistibly resembles the final scene of one of Poe's most celebrated tales.
Finally, on the album ‘The Final Frontier’, the first single was the song ‘El
Dorado’, which might be used too often as a title, a synonym or a name (when
speaking of the legend), but in this case, a poem of the same name was written
by Edgar Allan Poe and its theme, or final thought or message, is similar, even
identical to Maiden's, only told in another way and in other words.

At the very end of this review of Poe’s possible impact on Iron Maiden, it is very
important to mention the following: today, many fan sites and many authors tend
to study Maiden lyrics very thoroughly, meticulously, and speculatively, especially
those on the first albums that are short, obscure, sketchy, and it’s difficult to
understand exactly what is being said. However, they tend to forget the fact that
for the most part the songs on ‘Killers’ were produced in the mid-1970s, when the
authors were barely twenty years old, and that a good number of them weren’t
very well educated. Some were high school dropouts, others finished school just
get it over with, immediately devoting themselves to music, so they didn’t have
time to study or read, and they knew about most of what they wrote about from
screen adaptations of literary works, not from reading books. In reality, these
early texts are, simple, shallow, and not as overwhelming in their importance as
has been implied based on Iron Maiden’s later works.

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THE STORY BEHIND THE 'RUE


MORGUE' SONG
“This was a bit of an experiment”, said Steve Harris in an attempt to explain
the structure and idea for the inception of ’Murders in the Rue Morgue’. “I'd
never played harmonics on the bass much before that. But with the mood of
the intro, it felt really natural to play those harmonics. We wanted to create
mood and then come and hit people across the head with it. The vocal melody
is pretty much the same as the riff. That's the give them both more power.”

Not only did the experiment succeed, it has become almost a Maiden trademark
throughout their career, whether it be playing harmonies and even melodies on
the bass guitar, or in a slow and solemn intro that prepares and soothes us,
focuses us and hints at the drama, and then starts a breakneck pace that lasts
until the end of the song. Ideal for so-called concert openers, and there have been
many of those in Iron Maiden’s career. Remember their megahit ‘Aces High’, or
the song ‘Caught Somewhere in Time’, then ‘Moonchild’… ‘Murders in the Rue
Morgue’ was the show opener twice – for the ‘The Beast on the Road’ tour in
1982 and for the 2005 ‘Eddie Rips Up’ tour. We would use up several pages in
attempting to list all of Steve’s uses of bass guitar harmonies.

Basically, a new sound formula was born. Maiden had not only found their new
but already legendary producer Martin Birch, but also the distinctive sound which
is instantly recognizable to this day. As songwriter Steve Harris noted, the song's
vocal melody was created to blend in with the riff, especially in the choruses and
the bridge – the song became more powerful and quickly became a fan favourite.
In this song, too, Maiden may have pioneered a popular vocal technique for which
music fans give most credit to Guns'N'Roses and which is clearly noticed in many
of their songs like the chorus of ‘You Could Be Mine’ and ‘Paradise City’.
Specifically, Paul Di’Anno adds a non-existent syllable to the lyrics ‘rain’, ‘crime’,
‘call’, ‘mind’, ‘night’, for the sake of effect and to extend the sound of the final word
of each line. Thus rain becomes ‘raiain’, crime becomes ‘criaime’, call is ‘coiall’, mind
becomes ‘miaind’, and night becomes ‘niaight’. Iron Maiden went on to use this
technique in a few more songs, but it is most striking and clearly heard in this one.

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This song is one of a few of songs that weren’t performed at Maiden's earlier
gigs and can be considered to be a song created exclusively for the album
‘Killers’. Although the title, setting and framing of the story gives the
impression that it is Edgar Allan Poe's famous tale set to music, the story
develops in a completely different direction and leaved out the murderous
orangutan as well as the brilliant mind of Detective C. August Dupin.
Throughout Maiden’s career, Steve Harris has developed a specific, first-
person storyteller style of writing which echoes, after all, how Edgar Allan Poe
wrote many of his works. This writing style kept people wide-eyed (or –eared,
in this case) from beginning to end, because the tension and anticipation of
what is about to happen were almost palpable from their sheer volume. As
the song starts, we follow the protagonist, who has vivid memories of
everything despite the dark, wandering through the cold and rainy streets of
night-time Paris and hearing a terrible scream. He then comes across a crime
scene and finds nothing but two massacred female bodies. Afterwards, men
gather who have heard his calls for help (it’s not clear before this if he also
tried to help the women), but they start pointing at him, implying he is the
killer. He doesn’t understand why all of this is happening because, as he says,
he has done nothing, but when he realizes that he probably has blood on his
hands as everyone shouts that he is the killer. As he does not speak French
and cannot clarify what has taken place, the only sensible act he could think
of in the moment was a headless escape, which he does. As he runs heedlessly
through the dark streets of Paris, he wonders in his mind if he will ever be
free again. After searching all of France the following day, the protagonist
decides to secretly escape to southern Italy, believing himself safer there,
probably an allusion to the mafia and, a much easier way of suppressing clues.
In that moment, the protagonist, knowing that the police may discover his
identity, decides that he will never return home. It isn’t specified whether this
home is in the UK or elsewhere. When he is able to cross the border, the
protagonist doesn’t feel any better, because the memory of the crime scene
is constantly swirling around in his mind, and he quickly develops paranoid
behaviour – whenever someone looks at him for whatever reason, he believes
the person recognizes him, and runs away again to cover up. Driven mad, the
protagonist of the story eventually begins moving only under cover of the
shadows of the night, when there are no people around and no curious
glances, knowing that during the day, when they can see him, he shows signs

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of being the suspect. Constantly running takes its toll, the protagonist starts
getting weary of hiding and begins to contemplate a return to the crime scene
where the two young women were murdered (in the original Poe story, one
victim is younger and the other is older), possibly to seek help and to try
explaining what happened. However, at the end of the song, there is a twist
– in the closing lines, the protagonist says ‘but I know that it's on my mind
that my doctor said I've done it before’, which leaves us with reasonable
doubt that the protagonist of the story was the murderer this whole time. If
we rewind the film a little, we will remember that it’s the protagonist telling
us the story, and he is our only source of information about what takes place.
Is the story indeed true, or a subconscious, semi-conscious or schizophrenic
state of mind (his behaviour is very similar to that of a schizophrenic), this will
not be revealed, it is merely suggested and up for discussion.

‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ is a song that, despite the dramatic changes
between the story's flow and the original work by Poe, sustains the tension,
suspense and makes the listener wonder what will happen until the very end.
With its ending, it even leaves open the possibility that the story might continue.
With its structure and rhythmic gallop that’s somehow squeezed itself in between
punk and heavy metal and reminds is of schizophrenic, headless running, this
song might even be compared in certain segments to ‘Loneliness of the Long
Distance Runner’, which also rhythmically follows the protagonist of the story, the
runner, although in this song the runner runs from pride and defiance, while in
Rue Morgue he runs to escape and to hide, fearing for his life.

In 1985, this song was released as a live version on the B side of the 12” single
‘Running Free’, which also features the song ‘Sanctuary’. Adding two and two
together, one can understand exactly why these three songs were part of the
same vinyl set, especially ‘Sanctuary’ and ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’ on the
same side. It is equally significant that Iron Maiden donated part of the
proceeds of this single to anti-drug and anti-heroin abuse charities. The song,
of course, prompted fans to explore the fantastic literary world of Edgar Allan
Poe and discover the full range of his work, which in turn forever changed
their understanding of the world in which they live. If, however, you decide
to look for the Rue Morgue in Paris, it doesn't really exist, nor has it ever
existed. Poe clarified that he decided on the name simply to amplify the initial
sombre mood when you read his timeless work.

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KILLER BEHIND YOU


‘Killers’ is, many will agree, one of Iron Maiden’s best ‘early days’ songs.
Moreover, many feel it is a classic even outside the context of this album, which
is a large cut apart from anything Maiden have done before or since. If we
accept the fact that, although not a concept album, it contains a great number
of songs dealing with killers and murders from various points of view, this song
can certainly be called the climax of ‘Killers’. Di’Anno’s singing here has been
described as his best and most memorable performance. Dramatic vocals with
an occasional schizophrenic-psychotic tone, from the very beginning this song
grows alongside a creepy atmosphere and frightening guitars that gradually
build tension and play with our emotions and nerves, Harris’s pulsing bass and
Di’Anno’s sick wails. When the song finally gets going in all its force, the listener
gets the impression that he’s the one being chased by a maniacal serial killer,
and it is this fear as you listen that gives an undefined sense of dread, making
you almost one with the lyrics. The form of this song haunts the listener to
distraction by penetrating into the thoughts of an insane, schizophrenic, psychotic
killer, while the manic main riff perfectly hits the spot and conveys the feelings to
the hearer… And mid-song we get to an excellent bridge with the lyrics:

I can see
What a life's meant to be
You'll never know
How I came to foresee, see, see

…where in the moment Di’Anno sings ‘foresee, see, see’… the listener can
almost feel the three knife stabs – or axe hits – in his own body. The band
started work on the song mid-January 1980, and built it from three separate
ideas they later merged into two. Steve Newhouse, their roadie at the time,
recalls: “It was during this rehearsal period that Steve had two ideas that he
kept playing over and over again. Dave would join in where he thought he
should and it sounded fine. Then Paul would add a scream over the top and
what you ended up with was the intro to 'Killers'. The bit after the intro (when
it goes into the main song), was the second piece that Harris had been working
on. I suggested he put the two parts together and 'Killers' was born.”

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If we devote some time to the lyrics, we can find some interesting things. The
song is initially built in a storytelling style, the narrator describing the situation
and the atmosphere; a lonely person walks the dark corridors of the
underground railway while the killer stalks him in the dark, eyes flashing with
desire for the deed he is about to commit. A second later, fuelled by
adrenaline, he attacks from behind, the victim begs for mercy, while the killer
laughs as he watches the blood, his bloodlust stronger than any of his other
needs – even, in this case, his need for humanity. In the very next line, the
story continues from the killer’s point of view, where even he admits that his
victims are innocent, not killed for any other reason or with a motive other
than what was described in the first line. He immediately follows this with a
list of semi-motives, general reasons of social greed, hate and so on,
complaining about having no one, calls the murders a duty of sorts, says he is
being pushed to them by voices in his head. This is the perfect depiction of an
insane mind, one that does everything in a disjointed manner, unconnected;
one moment killing from bloodlust, the next acting the part of the moral and
just man on a crusade to rid the world of evil. The voices in his head, usually
one of the symptoms of schizophrenia, are also mentioned in ‘Murders in the
Rue Morgue’, but as the lyrics weren’t written by the same person it’s hard to
say there’s a conceptual connection. What follows next is the aforementioned
bridge, in which the killer continues ‘preaching’ like a talkative psychopath
who is ready for anything, even giving potential victims advice to watch where
they’re walking next time, to walk through better-lit areas, and describing the
excitement that courses through him as he kills a victim. The final line is
identical to the beginning of the song but written in first person singular, from
the serial killer’s point of view, suggesting a cycling repetition of murders and
the killer’s dirty deeds: over again and always the same. The final words of
the song, ‘Oooh look out, I'm coming for you! Ahahahaha!’ are interesting,
coming as a warning and almost identical as the one in ‘Wrathchild’. Even
Eddie on the album cover signals this with his body language, facing the album
buyer with an outstretched hand. If you look closely at the songs on this
album, you’ll see that almost every song is self-centred in a way, written from
the point of view of the protagonist, who is both the potential perpetrator
and the victim all in one. These kinds of texts lead us to delve deeper into the
theme and ‘live’ it more intensely while listening.

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This is by no means the end of the ‘Killers’ story. Only those who listen to Maiden
superficially will miss the fact that this song came into existence much earlier than
the band began recording their second album, and as such it probably had its own
‘intent’ and was waiting for its time to come. With Maiden, few things happen by
accident. If it existed and was played in 1980, with the title ‘Killers’, even with
different lyrics, it’s entirely possible that an invisible concept was being built
around it with the murderous theme. Fans with a ‘good ear’ will have noticed that
as early as the official ‘Live at the Rainbow’ video made towards the end of 1980,
Di’Anno announced ‘Killers’ as the title track of the new album – before it was
recorded – and it was played in May 1980 in the same arrangement and the
alternative lyrics, at Saint Austell during the band’s tour – again, Paul mentions
they had played it earlier. This means several things… Considering the relatively
small number of days between concerts and the recording of the first album,
Maiden couldn’t have written and rehearsed this song before January 1980. The
song must have been created before the first album, but it is unknown when it
was first played live since many concerts were never recorded, even on bootlegs,
to prove a particular timeline. However, the perfect place for promotions and
announcements was the 1980 Reading Festival, and as a nice hint, the song must
have been played there to gauge reactions. This shows some intent for ‘Killers’ to
be the title theme of the album, and that everything about the title was prepared
in advance: Killer Krew, Killer Tour, Axe Falls on America etc. However, the final
lyrics of ‘Killers’ were written and recorded just before they finished the album.

Di’Anno had written lyrics but they were never intended to be on the album,
or so the story goes – so they were later altered. They’d been written literally
as filler text, so he would have something to sing. But as they didn’t exactly
follow the theme of the song as we know it today, despite its title, we got
something completely new. Comparing the many transcripts – more than ten
versions can be found online – I noticed only a few significant differences, but
the versions are generally very similar. Aside from a few concrete changes to
the chorus at Reading (part of the BBC Archives today) and the ‘Live at the
Rainbow’ version, all the other changes seem to be missing transcription of
what was said. To get around this, I watched all the available versions,
underlined all the dubious parts with the ‘second transcript’ in brackets. I still
recommend you read these while listening to the song and come to your own
conclusions.

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KILLERS – ALTERNATIVE LYRICS

You fight in the street end (and)


You make all your claims every night
You turn on the power
To burn out the meek and the mild (week candle light)

[CHORUS]
We will stay here
you're full of yourself and your greed (you pull up yourself and you breathe)
You won't stop us
While London is looking to me (be), yeah

I challenge your kingdom


And (of) those that (which) you want to succeed
I step on their bodies
And squeeze ‘til your holy one’s (unholy) bleed

[CHORUS: READING 1980 VERSION]


We have found you
And now there is no place to run
You won't stop us
'Cause we have the power as one

[CHORUS: RAINBOW 1980 VERSION]


You won’t stop us
You’re full of yourself and your greed
We won’t let you (torment you)
I’m looking for rest don’t you see

I can't see what a life (knife) meant to be


You'll never know how I came to foresee, see, see

I take you and sack you


'Til you will (won’t) cry out in defeat (anything)
I beat you and (I) whip you
'Cause I have the power in me

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[CHORUS]
We have found you
And now there is no place to run
You can't stop us
'Cause we have the power as one

You fight in the street end (and),


You make all your claims every night
You turn on the power
To burn out the meek and the mild (week candle light)

[CHORUS: READING 1980 VERSION]


You can’t stop us
You're full of yourself and your greed
We won’t let you
While London is looking to me (be), yeah, yeah

[CHORUS: RAINBOW 1980 VERSION]


We will stay here
You're full of yourself and your greed
You won't stop us
While London is looking to me (be), yeah, yeah

Considering the pretty ambiguous lyrics, especially if connecting them to the


‘Killers’ title, it’s very hard to give a specific interpretation of them, but
looking at their composition it’s obvious that the bridge in the middle is the
only thing that’s left on the version that was ultimately included on the album,
and that following the solos everything starts again from the first line of the
song. The construction is the same. The song’s message is specific, angry and
threatening, the author expresses himself in the first person: (‘I challenge
your kingdom’, ‘I step on their bodies’, ‘I can see’, ‘I take you and sack you’, ‘I
beat you’, ‘I whip you’, ‘I have power in me’…) and plural (‘we will stay here’,
‘you won’t stop us’, ‘we have found you’, ‘cause we have the power as one’,
‘we won't let you’, ‘we will stay here’…). Knowing Paul Di’Anno’s background
as the author of the lyrics, especially that part tied to the Skinhead movement,
in keeping with the lyrics of these early versions of the song, I am of the
opinion that had they kept these lyrics, the song would have quickly become

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a skinhead anthem or a chant for the football hooligans, but also a symbol of
the fight against ‘newcomers’ of other nationalities, cultures and faiths, and
it begs the question of what direction Iron Maiden’s career and biography
would have been headed. Luckily, they ultimately selected the version on the
album, which is lyrically much closer to Iron Maiden’s standard themes.

Watching many recordings on YouTube to better decipher what Paul was


singing and to compare my transcripts with existing ones, I came across two
interesting comments that certainly have their place in my book. Paul Rhodes
writes: “I was the guitarist in a band called The Angels that supported Iron
Maiden at the London Marquee for two nights before they recorded this mega
show. I can remember standing beside the mixing desk after our set at the
Marquee and realising that Maiden had something we will never have. They
were so full of energy and totally original. The tunes were just so great. I
visited the small dressing room behind the drum kit and Paul Di’Anno was in
there while the band stormed through Transylvania. I had a feeling he just
wasn't into what he was doing at the time.”

Tom Hatton, on the other hand, says: “I was at this gig at the old Rainbow,
when they played the last two songs again because of a recording issue. Great
night. This was their best line up by far. I had no idea then how far they would
go.”

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THE IDES OF MARCH MISTERY


Considering that the idea for the song title ‘The Ides of March’ and its physical
– conceptual – connection to ‘Wrathchild’ can only be guessed at until the
author of the song decidedly confirms the idea behind the song and its motifs,
this chapter is about the term ‘the Ides of March’ only. To be sure, we’re also
talking about the song’s inception and its similarity to Samson’s ‘Thunderburst’,
released a year before ‘Killers’ on their 1980 album ‘Head On’.

According to Wikipedia, ‘the Ides of March is the 74th day in the Roman
calendar, corresponding to 15 March. It was marked by several religious
observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts. In
44 BC, it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius
Caesar which made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history. The
Romans did not number each day of a month from the first to the last day.
Instead, they counted back from three fixed points of the month: the Nones (the
5th or 7th, nine days inclusive before the Ides), the Ides (the 13th for most
months, but the 15th in March, May, July, and October), and the Kalends (1st of
the following month). Originally the Ides were supposed to be determined by
the full moon, reflecting the lunar origin of the Roman calendar. In the earliest
calendar, the Ides of March would have been the first full moon of the new year.

In modern times, the Ides of March is best known as the date on which Julius
Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC. Caesar was stabbed to death at a meeting
of the Senate. As many as 60 conspirators, led by Brutus and Cassius, were
involved. According to Plutarch, a seer had warned that harm would come to
Caesar no later than the Ides of March. On his way to the Theatre of Pompey,
where he would be assassinated, Caesar passed the seer and joked, “The Ides
of March are come”, implying that the prophecy had not been fulfilled, to
which the seer replied “Aye, Caesar; but not gone.” This meeting is famously
dramatized in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, when Caesar is
warned by the soothsayer to “beware the Ides of March.” The Roman
biographer Suetonius identifies the 'seer' as a haruspex named Spurinna.

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Whatever the motive for the song’s title and its physical connection to
‘Wrathchild’ on the ‘Killers’ album, we can be certain that it wasn’t written
either during or just before the recording sessions, but dates from 1977 at the
latest, possibly even earlier. AN obvious example is, say, ‘Metal for Muthas’, a
compilation album of NWOBHM tracks, where ‘Wrathchild’ is featured alone,
without ‘The Ides of March’ as its intro. A second piece of evidence is that the
song was used as the intro to Iron Maiden’s concerts in early days, but also
played before ‘Drifter’ according to a 1978 set list, and ‘Sanctuary’ in 1979,
meaning it was not initially the intent to conceptually tie it in to ‘Wrathchild’.
However, how do we know the song came about no later than 1977? Namely,
when Samson released their album ‘Head On’ in 1980 and featured their song
‘Thunderburst’ on it, Steve Harris wasn’t too pleased. Although the liner notes
on the vinyl name Steve Harris as the co-author of the song, together with all
the members of Samson, it is clear to listeners today that what we hear in that
song is what the general public knows as ‘The Ides of March’.

Samson have a long history of sharing and swapping band members with Iron
Maiden, and all fans are well aware of the fact that both Clive Burr and Bruce
Dickinson (known then as Bruce Bruce) defected from Samson to Maiden,
while Barry Graham Purkis, known as Thunderstruck, left Iron Maiden for
Samson. Barry’s tenure in Iron Maiden was short-lived, from their beginning
to mid-1977. He then moved to Samson, with Clive Burr arriving in Maiden as
a kind of exchange in early 1980, following the departure – for health reasons
– of Barry’s replacement Doug Sampson. There is audio evidence today that
'The Ides of March' was played live as early as 1978 and statements claiming
it was even played in 1977, consisting of several different instrumental parts
that the band played separately from the get-go. Work on the complete song
in the final form we know today was finished in late 1977 or early 1978 and it
then became the intro for Iron Maiden’s early concerts. I’ll explain how I came
to this conclusion later in this chapter.

As Barry was a member of Iron Maiden in the first half of 1977, it’s obvious
that the song 'The Ides of March' had to date from at least then, as Barry and
Steve Harris hung out at rehearsals and, like any other bands, worked on
perfecting their songs. This is the direction Barry’s comments lead in about
his co-authorship of the song and the reasons for its inclusion on Samson’s
album.

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During the 80s, indeed as soon as ‘Head On’ was released, it was clear to fans
following both bands that something was up, because those in the UK
remembered Iron Maiden performing or playing 'The Ides of March' as the
intro, yet here it was, suddenly, on Samson’s album. An even bigger surprise
was in store just a year later when Iron Maiden released the track on their
own new album. UK fans at the time knew well that the song was what they
had been hearing Maiden perform, but with the advent of the Internet 20
year later, known history was rediscovered and fans the world over began to
notice the same thing. This gave rise to countless discussions and debates,
even involving former Iron Maiden members and Barry Graham Purkis
himself, attempting to clear up who authored the song and what things
happened the way they did.

Namely, on Samson’s album, Steve Harris is named as the song’s co-author –


but on Iron Maiden’s album, Harris is the only one to get a credit, all of which
was duly registered with their regional copyright agency. So how did it
happen, and how was it even possible?

Neither Steve Harris nor Rod Smallwood have really spoken about this
question to the media, so fans officially have only one side of the story, but
it’s still a story much can be learned from, as well as some conclusions drawn.
Given the fact that Iron Maiden’s first two albums were mostly compiled of
songs from the band’s early days, watching recordings of early Maiden gigs
from 1976 and 1977 we can notice that Steve Harris was being especially
prolific as an author at the time. Most bands have a few original songs in the
first year or so of their career. Iron Maiden had so many they were able to
play a full concert using just their original material, which is exactly what they
did in most cases. Considering they played a lot of pubs and clubs around
London and later across the UK, and they played often, the fans quickly
memorised their original songs and began to react to them. Mind you, songs
like ‘Wrathchild’, ‘Sanctuary’, ‘Charlotte the Harlot’, ‘Prowler’, ‘Floating’ and
the rest were played more slowly, with different arrangements and solutions,
but structurally and compositionally, they were the same songs then that we
know today as Maiden classics. It’s not hard, then, to imagine a situation
where Barry, on joining Iron Maiden, found Steve with a bunch of ideas, or
that he also worked on them, as did the other band members. It’s easy to

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assume that 'The Ides of March' was among them, as yet nameless, composed
with the intent of playing it as the band’s live intro and possibly with no plans
to include it on an album release. It was indeed used as an intro well before
the first album came out, as intended.

In interviews he has given about joining Iron Maiden, Barry has repeatedly
mentioned that he was chosen through an audition, but elsewhere, he told a
slightly different story: “Steve Harris was very directional with what he
wanted. He used to come to my house and we'd sit in the bedroom going over
the bass and drum parts and stuff like that. That was it. Then they just phoned
me up and said, ‘Yeah, you've got the gig’, so I started playing with them.“

Iron Maiden 1977: Barry Purkis, Terry Wapram, Tony Moore, Steve Harris &
Dennis Wilcock.

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He continued with an explanation of why his tenure didn’t last long: “It didn't
work out because they, at that stage, were going through a transient stage
trying to find themselves, they couldn't find the formula. It was great, but you
could see that Steve had a direction and he was the driving force. Some
rehearsals sounded great, absolutely great, I've got some on reel-to-reel at
home, they're probably worth a bit. We've got the whole set with 'Prowler',
'Sanctuary', 'Wrathchild', 'Iron Maiden', all of the early stuff.”

Barry elaborated on this interview for bookofhours.net/Samson in 2017, in


another interview for knac.com, when he was asked what kind of music Iron
Maiden played while he was in the band: “The music was exactly as the
material on the first two albums. I mean we would be doing stuff
like 'Sanctuary', 'Charlotte the Harlot', 'Transylvania', 'Prowler' and other
songs. The band was still trying to find itself and by that I mean that Steve had
not really formulated the definitive line-up he wanted. In actual fact, when I
was with Iron Maiden, we also had a keyboard player. It was very much work
in progress. The things that stood out for me about Steve was that I had quite
obviously been used to rehearsing with bands in getting a band ready for gigs,
etc. But I had never just worked out purely the bass and drums and that's what
Steve used to do. He used to come to my house where the kit was and we would
run through bass and drum parts and make them really tight and precise. And
that was the first time I had ever come across that kind of working and I would
imagine that's very much the way that he and Nicko work these days.”

Also, for bookofhours.net, Barry tried to convey his version of how


‘Thunderburst’ came about and the reason for two versions of the same song
being released on two different albums, by two different bands, and with
different authors credited: “I came up with a drum pattern that did that
constant rolling. I would have ideas and Steve would then transpose that,
because I don't play guitar. It was the same with Samson... I'm unable to pick
a guitar up and show my idea, I have to sit there and go 'du-du du-du du, no
that's the wrong note' and we'd go through it like that. So that's how it came
about. And I had a drum pattern and I was trying to explain the chords to go
down on the drum pattern 'cause the whole thing goes around the drum
pattern. I think we played it a couple of times with Iron Maiden as an opening
track. Just an intro, it was a throwaway thing, not really a track. The story
behind that was that after we'd recorded 'Head On' and they'd recorded

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'Killers', Clive Burr went round to Paul's [Samson] house to listen to the new
Samson album and in turn took the new 'Killers' album with him. So Paul put
on side one and they were 'Yeah, it's great stuff,' turned it over and up came
'Thunderburst' and Clive nearly fell of his seat and went, 'Fuck, that's 'The Ides
of March', '. Paul was like, 'What the hell is he talking about?' So anyway, long
story short, I got summoned to EMI and there was Rod Smallwood and Steve
Harris sitting there and a lawyer, solicitor, and an EMI representative and just
me sitting there. So what was decided in the end was that Steve Harris would
share 50-50 the publishing rights on the Samson version of it, but I never got
sweet F.A. on the Iron Maiden version...”

What’s our conclusion from this interview? Judging by Barry’s words, the song
was being performed as early as the first half of 1977, while Barry was still in
Iron Maiden, and was created when Barry came up with a specific way of
playing the drums: constant rolling over all the drum elements that, liberally
interpreted, can be imagined as the echo of thunder (a possible inspiration
behind Samson’s title for the song, ‘Thunderburst’). He also says that in spite
of not knowing how to play a guitar, he tried to explain the chords he
imagined for the song to Harris, and that Steve later implemented this and
built the song as we know it today. Since Harris and Smallwood have never
told their story of the song in public barring the bare legal details, with respect
to Barry and his creative processes, we should note the following:

1. If Barry claims the song was played live in 1977, but we know it
wasn’t completed until early 1977, this means that the only part that
was played live originally was the section recorded by Samson. The
second part of the song, where the solo begins was added later.
2. Given that both in the band’s early days and later, Harris was the
primary author, while Barry collaborated on writing Samson songs
mostly because the whole band co-signed as authors on all the
songs, the more likely version is that Barry collaborated on the song
by playing the famed drum rolls over Steve’s chords, creating the
section of the song that would become disputed later on.
3. When Barry was invited to EMI and, according to him, was
confronted by Steve Harris, Rod Smallwood and their lawyer, the
natural response in such important matters – if he indeed co-wrote
‘Thunderburst’ – would have been to call in a lawyer of his own, and

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only then sit down and begin and discussions or negotiations about
credits and copyright.
4. If an agreement was reached that Barry and the rest of the band
were merely co-authors of half the material contained in Samson’s
song, rather than equal parts, while Steve Harris is the full author of
'The Ides of March', then the question is really which part of the song
did they write? Namely, Samson’s version has a light intro that is not
present on Iron Maiden’s version, and an attempt at a choir-like
sound that sounds more like vocal wallpaper with no real lyrics, just
the vowel ‘a’.
5. If all the members of Samson are the co-authors of the song, why
was only Barry called in to a meeting and why did none of the other
members – co-authors? – complain?
6. If Barry stands by his claim that he co-wrote the song, which he
obviously does considering he talks about it to the media, how and
why did he agree to the final arrangement?
7. Why didn’t he contact Steve Harris before ‘Thunderburst’ was
released, since he was fully able to and had the opportunity? Co-
writing credits are not the only way for a collaborative work to be
released. It would have been more natural for Barry to call Harris
before the release and ask him if Samson could release the song and
credit him. Also, if the song was mainly composed by him and Harris,
why are the other members of Samson also credited for it?

In his analysis of ‘Thunderburst’, Henrik Johansson of bookofhours.com states


that the song was written in different keys and adds that “one chord in the riff
pattern is altered in 'Thunderburst' and a choir-like thing is added on the end
of the song”. He also spotted another interesting thing. Namely, in most
countries, musical copyright works through a 50-50 split for music with lyrics,
so Henrik asked Barry if that was why he added lyrics to one part of the song.
Barry asked in surprise ‘are there???’ to which the answer was yes, and they
say ‘Aaaa, Aaaa’ and exclaimed “That's me! That's just me going 'Aaaaaa', just
me doing the singing mask.” Henrik Johannsson’s conclusion is that since 'The
Ides of March' has no lyrics, it doesn’t have Barry credited as the co-author.
Barry’s response was “It's just that I wanted to put some backing vocals
behind it. It was actually going to be credited on the sleeve as ‘the singing
mask’.”

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In investigating all of the above, I even spoke to Barry himself and he stands
by his story, but summing up and analysing much of the information I came
across led me to conclude that, after collaborating with Harris on, let’s call it
arranging the early Iron Maiden songs, Barry took the idea of this song with
him to Samson, being of the opinion that he also had the right to continue
working on it. It does appear, however, that Steve Harris found out about the
intent to release ‘Thunderburst’ – specifically, he heard the already recorded
but as yet unreleased song. Barry was therefore summoned to the big
meeting at EMI, where he was told legal action would ensue against him and
agreeing to the terms I’ve mentioned was a compromise of sorts to get the
situation more or less resolved. This version of events seems more likely for
many reasons, and in fact answers many of the questions:

1. This is why, for example, all of (soon to be credited) Samson weren’t


invited to the EMI meeting, only Barry.
2. This is why there were no big media controversies about the case in
the 1980s.
3. This is why Barry didn’t retain a lawyer and embark on a lawsuit.
4. This is why Steve Harris released his own version in 1981 and
credited only himself.
5. This is why Barry never contested Steve’s exclusive authorship of
'The Ides of March'.
6. This is why things were handled without too much fuss or polemics,
until wider use of the Internet led some fans to rediscover old, stale
stories.

'The Ides of March' hasn’t really been played live since the ‘Killers’ release,
but it was played as a recording during the intro to the ‘Eddie Rips Up the
World Tour’ in 2005. It has been covered by bands like Arch Enemy,
Bloodsucker, Disharmonic Fields, Elder Gods, Katechon, Steel Prophet and the
projects Metal Allegiance and Metal Masters 2014.

Thirty-odd years on, when Maiden had become truly big, while on the other
hand the music industry began to implode, various accusations of co-opting
authorship of many of their early songs began to fly around. Paul Mario Day,
the band’s first singer, publically announced that he had written the music
and lyrics to ‘Strange World’, while Barry Graham Purkis piggybacked on his

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online explanation with the following: “I've never met you Paul… but man can
I sympathise with you... This is exactly how I feel about the co-written
'Thunderburst' and Iron Maiden's 'Ides of March'... I was instructed to give Mr
Harris songwriting (therefore publishing) on 'Thunderburst' on the Samson
album by EMI Representation, Iron Maiden management and legal team...
whereas I was told in no uncertain terms that should I push for a songwriting
credit on Iron Maiden version... I should prepare for a highly contested legal
wrangle... Nice… My one question is... if Steve Harris insists that he wrote the
composition, regardless of the arrangement, (they are in reality exactly the
same song) why the fuck did he not push for TOTAL songwriting credit on both
Samson and Iron Maiden versions. Instead of settling for half..? It sure as hell
wasn't out of the kindness of his heart.... So like I said I SO sympathise with all
of the other ex-Maidens that didn't ever get to see their TRUE input into this
band at the time it mattered most... the early days without money, a deal, or
even a firm fan base... that’s when as a working musician you have to be
dedicated and true… making sure you can borrow enough money to be able
to get enough petrol in the car to make rehearsals… Only to be written out of
the equation years later...'Up the Irons'… indeed.”

On the other side, another former band member – Paul Di’Anno – clearly
stood by Harris in this case, although he hasn’t spared Steve from criticism
when he felt it was warranted, saying this, among other things: “I mean, how
can you come up with the idea of a song which you never written, and claim
that it's yours? It was not - it was Steve Harris's, and I'll defend him until the
death on that one. There's no bloody way, that's just total bullshit or fantasy.
That's no 'The Ides of March,' which sounds nothing like any other Samson
track - so how you would even come up with something like that is so alien.
And to come out with that bullshit, I'm sorry, I just thought it was a load of
crap. I get angry at that - it really makes me angry, because that's Steve's
song. My boys also play that [live], to give me a breather, ha, ha…”

To close the subject, here’s a YouTube comment from a fan: “From Harris'
angle… all of these guys left the band/walked out and let Harris down, then
years later ‘I wrote that’. It’s a bit like having a child and walking away when
its 3 months old. Then, years later, when the kid is a multi-millionaire, saying
‘This is my child, look how fantastic he is, all thanks to me’!”

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In spite of everything, every story has two sides and every side tells a dose of
the truth. In my books, I strive to find the truth by looking at all angles, and I’m
planning a separate book on this subject which will cover the period 1975-1979.

However, while the question of the exact timeline of 'The Ides of March' is
resolved up to a point, at least its initial form, one thing has always been left
out. From listening to certain bootleg recordings, it is clear that 'The Ides of
March' was played as an intro over the sound system, implying it must have
been recorded at some point, but no one seems to have been aware of this nor
have Iron Maiden ever talked about it. You can tell it’s a recorded track and not
a live performance from the sound and volume in comparison to the later live
concert, not to mention that it would be weird for the DJ to announce Iron
Maiden while they play the song on stage. Namely, the DJ’s voice announcing
the show is heard while 'The Ides of March' is already playing – for example on
the bootleg recorded at Wakefield Unity Hall on 07/02/1980.

At the 05/10/1979 Ruskin Arms concert, there is no DJ announcement, and


although there are indications 'The Ides of March' was pre-recorded here too,
it was in fact played live. Steve Newhouse, the Killer Krew’s earliest member,
claims they played it live until it was finally recorded for ‘Killers’, but several
major bootleg collectors have expressed doubts about this. It is already known
that Maiden spent time in the studio on several occasions before they recorded
their debut album, not least to record the legendary ‘Soundhouse Tape’ in late
1978 – and that one does not contain 'The Ides of March', at least not officially.
Considering the band signed a deal with EMI in late 1979, it logically follows that
the album recordings did not take place before this, and the band had a hard
time getting the money together for the ‘Soundhouse Tape’.

We’re also aware of the ‘Metal for Muthas’ compilation recorded in October
1979. From what we know, only ‘Wrathchild’ and ‘Sanctuary’ were recorded
and released in February 1980, although there is of course the possibility 'The
Ides of March' was also recorded and simply never mentioned. There are
recordings from the ‘Friday Rock Show’ session in 1979, but four songs were
recorded there and 'The Ides of March' was not one of them. What’s left to us?
Maiden had some recording sessions with Gary Edwards for the ‘Axe Attack’
compilation on 26 and 27 November 1979, and recorded ‘Burning Ambition’
and ‘Running Free’, but it’s difficult to say whether Harris, Di’Anno, Murray and

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Sampson recorded anything else. As Barry Purkis gave me some insights into
the list of songs recorded during a band rehearsal in 1977, where 'The Ides of
March' is again absent, the search narrowed down to two already mentioned
recordings and a potential third. Namely, as several bootlegs exist with 'The Ides
of March', dated June 1980, some months after the release of the band’s debut
album, we must remember that Iron Maiden entered the studio to record
‘Sanctuary’ in mid-1980, so it could be released and added to the US edition of
the album that May. In theory, it’s possible that 'The Ides of March' – or at least
a version of it – was recorded then, although the bootlegs would have to be
checked to identify a timeframe for when the live performance of the song was
changed to playback on the live bootleg from 31/05/1980, made at Saint
Austell, Cornwall Coliseum UK, 'The Ides of March' was played over the
speakers, followed immediately with the band’s live performance of
‘Sanctuary’, which possibly implies that the songs were recorded together and
thus also played together. Moreover, it’s easily possible that Maiden simply
recorded 'The Ides of March' twice and just never mentioned this in public. On
the Wakefield recording from February 1980, ‘Wrathchild’ follows 'The Ides of
March', while on the 16/06/1980 audio it is ‘Sanctuary’.

We should also mention Andy Scott, guitarist of the band Sweet, who was one
of the potential producers of Iron Maiden’s first album and who they were
supposed to record their new singles with. The December 1979 session, by
now featuring the line-up Di’Anno, Smith, Stratton, Harris and Burr, ultimately
turned out to be a waste of time. Iron Maiden wanted to improve the
recorded drums for ‘Running Free’. Andy was dropped when he began
pressuring Harris to use a guitar pick instead of his fingers, as well as for
demanding guarantees that he would produce the entire album before they
had even started recording the single. There were doubts that the mystery
recording was redone then with Clive and Dennis, and ultimately, I decided to
verify this. I asked Dennis Stratton and he responded “No, all this was done
before I joined. And Steve liked the idea of an intro tape when we first started
playing as a band”. This key piece of information automatically removes all
sessions with the first album line-up and the period of late 1979 and 1980,
cutting the likely candidates down to the ‘Metal for Muthas’ and ‘Axe Attack’
studio sessions. As ‘Metal for Muthas’ took place on 24/10/1979 and ‘Axe
Attack’ a month later, on listening to all the available bootlegs I’ve concluded
that the recorded 'The Ides of March' doesn’t appear on any of them before

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the ‘Axe Attack’ session, making 25-26/11/1979 the most likely date of
recording. Also, only rhythm guitars were laid down for the second part of the
song, no solos, so since the line-up at the time was transitional and included
only Dave Murray on guitar, the probable plan was to record the guitars later
on. This makes 'The Ides of March' the first actual recording of the song, made
before Samson’s ‘Thunderburst’, and it will probably remain the only
unreleased Iron Maiden studio recording. Knowing Harris, I have no doubt he
took all the necessary steps to assert his own copyright at the time.

And as it happens in the tensest of thrillers, I had concluded this chapter and
the book was at the printer's, when a fan (who wishes to remain anonymous
for the time being) provided me with some information about the existence of
a reel-to-reel track on which this song was recorded, under the working title
'Maiden March'. The name had nothing to do with March, the third month of
the year, but was intended to indicate that this song was Iron Maiden's war
march, their song before 'battle', the intro before going on stage. There was no
way around it - I had to stop the presses and wait for the photo of the real,
physical track, proof it exists and that it's in the possession of a collector who is
trusted by fans the world over and has earned that trust. Someone who has
never presented a fake and tried to sell it as authentic. You can see the photo
for yourselves now, in this very book, as proof that it exists and that it was
originally called 'Maiden March', but you'll have to wait for my future book 'The
Mystery of Benjamin Breeg' to read more about how it all came about'

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A MONSTER WITH AN AXE


Although Eddie already had his first form by the late 70s, it was quite obvious
he would go through developments and improvements in the years to come,
which is ultimately what happened. Not only did Eddie change both shape and
environment, he became an unavoidable icon of modern popular music,
appearing in many places regardless of whether they have any connection to
Iron Maiden. An interesting inside joke mixed in with Rod Smallwood’s visionary
concept and Derek Riggs’ fantastic artistic solution is today an indelible mark in
the history of music culture and even farther. Although the promo poster you
see on the previous page is a black and white print, it still does a good job of
hinting at the impressions of UK fans just before the release of ‘Killers’. A yellow
logo and a yellow-toned monster with an axe in his hand on a black background,
it caught the attention of passers-by on the streets and outside stores, tempting
them to stop for a moment. Few were immune to this hypnotic illustration
announcing a new album, as well as yet-to-be-unveiled album art.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but when you place all of Iron Maiden’s albums
and singles side by side you’ll see the illustrations on the first album are
abundant with the colour yellow, in enormous amounts. This continued
somewhat on ‘Killers’, and it was this atmosphere that gave the early albums
their irresistible charm, mystery and hypnotic attractiveness. The ‘Killers’
cover, with its clear title and well-interpreted illustration, continues to attract
attention at vinyl stores to this day. Although I went into details about Eddie’s
inception in my book ‘Iron Maiden’, it is important to look back a year or two
in order to comprehend Eddie’s significance and his influence on Iron
Maiden’s development and success in the right way and to confirm that
‘Killers’ Eddie is still final form Eddie, who is just more defined, his features,
‘skin’ texture, the shape of his eyeholes and his ‘nose’, for want of a better
word. Apart from ‘Piece of Mind’ – after which Eddie retained the concept of
a sawn through, lobotomized and reconstructed head, the ‘Killers’ cover is the
one that most defined Eddie. People will wonder, however, whose head was
Eddie born in; was he Rod Smallwood’s idea, or Steve Harris’s or someone
else’s, since it’s well known that the name ‘Eddie’ was circulating in the
Maiden camp even before Derek Riggs was recruited?

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On www.getreadytoroll.com Dave ‘Lights’ Beazley – well known to Maiden


fans as one of the first people to stand with Iron Maiden, an original Killer
Krew member who found glory as an unbeatable lighting designer – says this
about Eddie:

“Eddie The ‘Ed was a joke that was going around at the time, i.e. – a couple
had a child, but when the child was born it was only a head – no arms, legs or
anything else. The couple were devastated but the doctor said ‘Don’t give up
hope. When the head’s grown to its full size, which will be when the boy is
about 14 years old, we’ll fix him up with a body’. So the couple put Eddie on
the mantle-piece and looked after him for the next fourteen years. On his
fourteenth birthday they said to him ‘Eddie, we have a very special present for
you’, and Eddie replied… ‘Oh no... Not another fuckin hat!’

So yes, the idea for Eddie grew out of that joke! In the song ‘Iron Maiden’, the
lyric goes ‘See the blood begin to flow’, etc. So, on the backdrop that we used
for the pub gigs, with the help of a friend from art college I rigged up a mask
that was made from a mould of my own face which coughed up blood in time
to those lyrics. The Eddie that was used as the band became more famous was
designed from artwork by Derek Riggs, but the original idea started with that
joke, and that first mask. As to whether I see him as family, yes, in a way I
suppose I do.”

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The name Eddie (Ed) comes straight from the joke, since in a Cockney accent
the word sounds like the name ‘Ed’, and the mask Dave Lights is talking about
is a papier-mâché mask – a malleable mixture of paper and glue, or paper,
flour, and water, that becomes hard when dry. In many interviews before and
since, Dave Lights has told a similar story, sometimes in a confusing manner,
so it turned out that Eddie’s final form was inspired by his face. This claim
seems to have been supported by a Riggs work in which Dave gradually
transforms into Eddie, but we should keep in mind the illustration was created
years after Eddie as we know him was born.

Gregory Dabin of France’s Rock Hard magazine got the following statement
from Dave Lights: “When Maiden got the deal with EMI, Rod [Smallwood]
received a portfolio with various drawings and he accidentally found this kind
of punk that was to end up on the cover of Iron Maiden's first album. In fact,
the band cracked up and thought he looked like me, ‘Hey, look! That's Dave
Lights!’ When Derek painted this first cover, we started working together on
a few ideas. Sometimes, the management would only give us the album's
name, or ideas, or even drafts. We used to start working on these. So, for
instance, the ‘Powerslave’ and ‘Somewhere in Time’ album concepts came
from my own imagination. Then I designed the stage layout for both tours. I'd
usually say to Derek, ‘Can you make me a draft of the album cover so I can
have an idea of what it's about?’ I'd then go home with a pencil draft and I'd
get back to him, saying, ‘Can you do that?’ That's how we ended up with space
shuttles on the ‘Somewhere in Time’ tour, they all come from Derek.”

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The punk zombie illustration Dave is talking about here is familiar to Maiden
fans and bears the title ‘Electric Matthew Says Hello’ – this was exactly what
was written beneath the illustration of future Eddie while Rod Smallwood
leafed through Derek’s portfolio at EMI. After Rod requested that Derek
modify the illustration – to make Eddie a bit less of a punk-like monster, the
first album cover was created and the story goes as I wrote in detail in the
‘Iron Maiden’ book.

If you’re asking ‘ok, even if it all happened as the protagonists say, Eddie is
still unique, with his unique skin texture and demonically glowing eyes. So
where did Derek draw inspiration for such a special monster – who has
become iconic through history and can’t be placed in any monster subtype?
Eddie’s just – Eddie.’ Derek himself gave the answer in a Facebook status…

“Here is something that Pablo Miniaci (Iron Maiden fan) found. It's the actual
picture that I used for the skin texture on the very first Eddie. It wasn't the
inspiration for Eddie, as some sources have wrongly stated. It is where I went
to in order to find out what dried-up skin on a skull looked like.“

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The detailed story of this photo and Eddie’s initial meaning and message is
covered in my book about the album ‘Iron Maiden’. There’s no need to make
assumptions about how the idea came about for the visual story of Iron
Maiden should be located on the streets of London from the very first single
to their early albums. Derek Riggs explained his concept perfectly in his
autobiography ‘Run for Cover’ and in many interviews: “And the background
of that is the streets where I used to live in London. So, I just kind of put the
two together. I used to read H. P. Lovecraft, and I read an interview with him
where he says anyone can make a horror story horrible in the wilds of
Transylvania, with a hooting owl and bats and smoke and all that, but what's it
like if you shove it right on your doorstep? So, I stuck him right on your doorstep.
That was a street in London where I lived, or one of them anyway, actually a
combination of two. Given my gypsy soul I guess, I tended to move around a lot.
But I used to walk around a lot at night, and I liked the yellow glow from the
streetlights and the blue tine to the moon - quite a stunning contrast, really.”

Derek preferred a special colouring scheme, a specific relationship between


yellow, black and blue with carefully dosed red details, and we can notice it
on most of the album and single illustrations until the ‘Piece of Mind’ era. At
the time, Eddie was beloved by fans and hated by the establishment and
mainstream media. He looked dark, threatening, authentic and scary. By the
singles ‘Flight of Icarus’ and ‘The Trooper’ and going forward, he became
more and more of an icon who had to be on the cover regardless of whether
anyone had any idea who or what he would be representing. Eddie had
appeared on all the covers to all the albums and singles and he’d become
simply unavoidable. But it became a weight around his neck that the fact that
he had to appear always and everywhere in any shape or role given to him
began turning him into a beloved mascot, losing his original maleficence.
Many film and comic book monsters have fallen victim to the syndrome of
loss of mystery and have become a joke and parodies of themselves. Perhaps
this was why Iron Maiden decided to broaden their ‘Early Days’ DVD and
include ‘Piece of Mind’ although it was realistically one that should have been
covered with the second era of Iron Maiden history DVDs.

Speaking to Derek, Cyrus Aman posed the question of what he would say to
new generations of illustrators and graphic designers in general, working on
album covers and in the music industry. This was the response:

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“I don’t know, advice is difficult. If somebody wanted to paint heavy metal


covers, be very specific about what you’re doing. A lot of these people fail
because they think they’re painting record covers. No, you’re not. You’re
painting t-shirts when you’re painting record covers. That’s what’s going to
happen to it; it’s going to end up on a t-shirt. So, it’s got to have a really
rock-solid central core of a picture. The main figure has really got to kick out.
The main figure can’t be somewhere in the background like that guy did with
that picture of Eddie on a tank [cover art for ‘A Matter of Life and Death’]. I
mean you can’t fucking sell a tank as merchandise; I’ll tell you that. You can’t
put that on a picture. What the fuck was he thinking? Come on.”

Derek’s advice also defined his illustrator’s philosophy, which is what we


love him for and what made the Maiden album covers he created so special.
He showed that despite coming across as phlegmatic and a passive observer
in the Maiden story, he is still emotional about Eddie’s new incarnations,
because after all, Eddie is his ‘baby’ and it’s natural that he cares about him.
It’s precisely because Eddie was, as Derek says, featured front-and-centre
on the album covers, especially the first two, the central, cannot be ignored
part of the illustration, that in the ocean of vinyl available in the early 80s
Iron Maiden covers attracted immediate attention and emotion – love or
disgust, no other option.

During the 80s and 90s, if we wanted to know more about Eddie, motifs and
artist’s ideas, inspiration, message, the background of a concept and
possible connections to locations that served as inspiration for the art, we
would have to hunt down Derek’s rare interviews, whether in rock
magazines or occasionally the DC mag. However, the world wasn’t
connected like it is today, when we can find out anything with just a click,
so most of what we know today and many of the facts were a mystery for a
long time. Today, in the age of social networks, Derek is directly connected
to his fans, communicates regularly, and bit by bit he uncovers previously
unknown trivia. In the Internet’s early days, when there was more activity
on forums and messageboards, many fans spent days and nights
researching to be able to present some things as grand discoveries that are
common knowledge today. It’s hard, then, to write something new today
that isn’t already known, such as the London location that served for the

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illustration of the first Iron Maiden cover. At one point, Derek decided to
share with us which building inspired him for the ‘Killers’ cover.

“When I moved away from Oakfield Road in London, I ended up living in this
block of apartments in Finchley, North London. It's called Etchingham Court.
Back in the late 1970s it was very run down and surrounded by huge trees
and gardens that had run wild. The facade of the building was just bare
bricks then, and the windows were original 1920s steel frame windows (very
cold in winter). They were rental apartments and the top floors had holes in
the roof, so when it rained or snowed it would land on the floor and drip
through the ceiling of the ground floor. Also, it was rife with cockroaches. It
was horrible and most of my friends were unemployed, as was most of
England, but we had some good times here. It is here that I invented Eddie
and painted the first three album covers.

According to Derek, his apartment was no. 26, but looking at Google maps at
the entrances to the buildings, logic says that 27 should be on the far left and
32 on the far right, perfectly fitting the numbers Derek painted on the album
cover. Reminiscing further about the early covers, he continued: “Back in the
1970s the corner blocks were only two levels high. They added the third level

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and the roof level after I left the apartment sometime in the early 1980s. It looks
very posh now it has been renovated. When I lived there it was a brick facade
and really run down. It was surrounded with old trees and covered in weeds. The
caretaker Jim used to keep chickens and a goat called Maggie in the garages at
the back of the block. And we had cockroaches the site of rats. We used so much
stuff trying to kill them off that I ended up getting pesticide poisoning.”

On Iron Maiden’s first cover, Eddie looks a little distraught, with a hollow gaze.
However, three whole years passed between the first album and the
illustration for ‘Killers’, and the ‘Killers’ cover was designed purposefully,
while the first album cover was merely an upgraded original that had a
different original intent. Eddie’s final form on ‘Killers’, with a fuller head of
hair, now looks maleficent and isn’t looking at the victim beneath his feet but
is grinning maliciously and holding an axe in his hand as he addresses us, the
fans and everyone else, as though quoting a line from ‘Wrathchild’, ‘I’m
coming to get you’… Or more sinister, from ‘Killers’ – ‘Oooh look out, I’m
coming for you! Ahahahaha!’

We can see the same thing on the first, unused version of the ‘Live
After Death’ album and the alternate art for ‘No Prayer for the Dying’.
For both covers, Derek told the public that they were not his idea, but
done on direct request from manager Rod Smallwood, who always
wanted to depict Eddie reaching out to the buyer, intending to grab
him by the throat. For ‘Live After Death’, Derek managed to explain to
him that the illustration would never have the power like the one we
know today, offering a different solution, while for the alternative art
to the remastered ‘No Prayer for the Dying’, he stated he never liked
it, same as Rod never liked the original on which Eddie holds a
gravedigger by the neck. If we connect the dots, and Rod’s preferences
for this kind of illustration, it’s quite possible that he was the one to
suggest to Derek that ‘Killers’ Eddie should look like he does, standing
in that pose and ‘addressing’ the audience directly. Derek obviously
agreed that for this occasion the idea wasn’t a bad one – at least he
wasn’t copying his own work – painted the picture, and the rest is
history.

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We can agree that when it comes to Maiden, sometimes people look for trivia
there there’s none to be found. One frequent debate had been the identity
of the massacred person in their death throes, holding on to Eddie’s shirt and
dying at his feet. In 2010, J. Bennet wrote in Revolver Magazine: “…the new
Eddie could well be seen as a portent of the group’s impending split with then-
singer Paul Di’Anno (he would be given “the axe” before the year was out) and
his subsequent replacement with much longer-locked frontman Bruce
Dickinson.” When I discuss the reasons for Di’Anno’s departure from the band
later in this book, I’ve realized I’m quite close to sharing this opinion and I
can’t shake the feeling that the unidentified victim could well be Paul Di’Anno.
Never underestimate Rod Smallwood’s imagination when it comes to creating
mystery and riddles, or the fact that Steve Harris had his eye on Bruce
Dickinson as early as the ‘Metal for Muthas’ tour. According to the info I’ve
got which I’ll explain in detail here, even ‘Killers’ was recorded out of
obligation, to get it finished and release what was left of the old material, so
they could turn a completely new page in the band’s career. At the end of the
day, the Venezuelan version of the ‘Maiden Japan’ live EP shows nothing less
than what I’m writing.

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This rare and significant edition depicts Eddie holding up Paul Di’Anno’s
severed head. When Dickinson left Iron Maiden, Eddie was shown dressed as
the Devil, skewering the singer with a spear. Only Blaze Bayley was spared as
he left, in part because Derek wasn’t in the team to paint it. Considering that
Rod really loved to play around this way, creating a continuity of sorts, it’s
possible that the Venezuelan edition of ‘Maiden Japan’ was just a logical
progression from the ‘Killers’ cover. After all, the story of Margaret Thatcher
on the covers to early singles played out in instalments, killing the departing
singer happened in instalments, the cover of the ‘Purgatory’ single logically
and subtly announced 'The Number of the Beast', Eddie’s battle with Satan
on the ‘Run to the Hills’ cover was succeeded by 'The Number of the Beast'
where Eddie hoists his decapitated head. On ‘Maiden Japan’, Eddie holds a
samurai sword with the ball of the rising sun in the background, spiritual
successor to the ‘Maiden England’ live video where he’s leaping over the
audience on a motorbike with the lights reflecting behind him, so why
wouldn’t an illustration follow on from Paul Di’Anno who was ‘murdered’ on
an earlier one by showing him decapitated? It can sometimes seem like a
conspiracy theory, but if anything is certain, it’s that nothing is ever certain
with Iron Maiden and their episodic stories and riddles.

Asked many times to explain the obvious differences between Eddie’s first
incarnation and the ‘Killers’ era one, Derek said: “The character’s
development was not such a conscious process. The Killers picture was done
about three years after the first one was painted, but I never sat down and
said ‘Now I am going to make him look this way or that way.’ I’m very
spontaneous when I create the image. Sometimes I don’t even use a sketch to
begin with. I fill up the space and then start putting things into it. Eddie has
an axe because he’s an ‘axeman’. It’s a pun on the term for a rock-and-roll
guitarist. His hair got a bit ‘Farrah Fawcett’, but that was OK back in the early
80’s, because there was this kind of fashion for big fluffy hair with rock bands,
so people didn’t really notice. But really, it’s just me making it up as I go along.
Eddie was not ‘developed,’ Eddie is just there.”

Of noticeable details that were emphasised and even carried over to other
illustrations are the cat (Derek is a cat person), the Ruskin Arms pun and the
Kinky Sex Shop that would later appear on the debut album cover of all-girl
tribute band Iron Maidens – which Derek Riggs illustrated.

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If you’re wondering what happened to the original ‘Killers’ illustration, done


in a type of watercolour called designer’s gauche, Derek thinks the
information on its whereabouts and who owns it has been lost forever. When
complete, it was 12 and a half square inches, and it took Derek about a week
to finish it. On its fate, he says: “Maiden might still have the original, although
I think it’s one of the Eddies that escaped their clutches. They lost quite a few
of them over the years. Keep your eyes open — the original paintings often
turn up on eBay for sale. You just can’t keep a good Eddie down.”

Since I decided to write a book about every Iron Maiden album, in my book
'The Number of the Beast' I described the interesting process of the hidden
announcement of the new direction the band were about to take on that
album and as early as ‘Killers’, as well as surrounding events. Since the stories
of the two albums are so intertwined, it would be unfair to leave the story
just in that book – not everyone owns all my books. Thus, I’ve decided to copy
a few published pages here in order to set the scene and explain everything
I’ve written about it here.

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As I started to explain in the previous chapter (NOTB book), ‘The Number of the
Beast’ isn’t just an accidental gem of an album that suddenly became one of the
most legendary albums in the history of rock, nor is it by extension the product
of a band’s rapid creativity and productivity. Its roots are planted deep in the
band’s history, and it is likely that it was carefully prepared in advance. At the
end of the day, I’m not sure anyone is completely convinced that the concepts
of Maiden’s albums were created by them exclusively. In most cases, liner notes
on their album covers state that credit for ideas of that kind was deserved not
only by illustrator Derek Riggs but also manager Rod Smallwood.

What kind of band would Iron Maiden be without Eddie, their mascot, can we
even imagine them like that? Iron Maiden are neither the first nor the last band to
have used a particular mascot in their career, but they are definitely the first to
have used him so consistently and directly, on the cover of every last album and
the covers of nearly all their singles, with just one or two exceptions. For the first
time in the history of rock, a mascot was used so persistently and intently that it
allowed fans to decipher songs and their meanings just from his appearance on
the cover and the environment in which he was placed. Sometimes fans more
anxiously anticipated new single releases to find out what Eddie’s newest
incarnation would be than for the music. It wasn’t like there was ever a chance
that Iron Maiden would disappoint with the music itself.

When he was getting the band together, did Steve Harris have a vision of what
they would look like in the future? Of course not, not even remotely, but what
he did have was a very progressive, intelligent and exceptionally skilful manager
in the person of Rod Smallwood. It would be Smallwood who would care and
manage the creative aspect of the band, while Andy Taylor, that experienced
old cat, was already a successful financial manager and a man known for
making unerring business decisions in the world of music and finance. Rod’s
mind was never at rest – if he saw a chance to make something happen he took
it, and in the case of Iron Maiden, there were opportunities aplenty. We need
only recall the story of how Eddie really entered the Iron Maiden story.
According to available information, Rod Smallwood was visiting the offices of
EMI Records one day and, noticing the cover of the Alvin Lee Band album ‘RX5’,
he immediately asked the staff if they knew who the author of the illustration
was, and more importantly, if they could put him in touch with whoever it was.
This is how, the story is told, Rod encountered Derek Riggs. The concept is

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marred only by the fact that Alvin Lee Band’s album wasn’t released until 1981,
almost a year after Eddie was introduced to the public on ‘Iron Maiden’. Of
course, we can allow for the possibility that the illustration was at EMI’s offices
earlier for some reason or other, before it was used for the cover. The guitar
playing cyborg, reminiscent in some aspects of a later version of Eddie on the
‘Somewhere in Time’ album, was reportedly the trigger which encouraged Rod
to start thinking about a mascot and the concept of a permanent visual
representation of a band who would, at the end of the day, become as famous
for its mascot as it is for its music.

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I’m finding it hard to imagine what those conversations between Rod and Derek
would have looked like: “Hey, Derek, we need you to do something for the
‘Sanctuary’ single”, and Derek’s answer “Hm, I’ve got this cool idea, Margaret
Thatcher lying dead with Eddie bending over her holding a knife”. Rod says
“Excellent, SOLD!” A year later, Smallwood: “Hm, you know, Derek, we need new
cover art for ‘Woman in Uniform’ but we can’t go with Maggie, we’ve used her
already… What are we gonna do now?” Derek replies “No problem, mate, if
Eddie’s a zombie, she can be too. I’ll just paint her lying in wait for him with a gun.”
“Brilliant idea!” says Rod and goes home a happy man.

Of course, this is exaggeration, but you understand what I’m trying to say.
Derek is an excellent illustrator, the best Iron Maiden have had or will have for
the rest of their career, and when illustrating he comes up with fantastic
concepts which have become part and parcel of the Iron Maiden iconography,
including tiny, tiny details, usually meaningful and interconnected if you pay
closer attention to his work. It is however pointless to imagine that he was
given full creative control or total freedom of expression in the process of
illustrating key themes and deciding what would be on the covers. While he
depicted Margaret Thatcher as deceased on single covers, she was still very
much alive and in office, and she would certainly have recognised herself in his
illustrations. It was Iron Maiden’s decision and willingness to provoke the public
and win the approval of the younger British audience in such a way, therefore
the impetus couldn’t come from him. It needed to be a precisely thought-out
campaign developed by their management – who were authorized to decide the
risk was worth it.

You could easily be mistaken if you believe the same is not true of ‘Killers’ and
even more specifically with ‘The Number of the Beast’. On the ‘Killers’ cover,
Eddie still hadn’t moved out of the suburbs of London, an environment that
would have been “very familiar” to fans at the time. Metal music of the time
was still the music of the angry working class rather than elite collectors (with
some exceptions, of course) who pay insane amounts of money for something
they will later probably sell for even more insane amounts of money. Iron
Maiden’s album ‘Killers’ is a relic of its time and reflects exactly the period in
which the Irons grew to adulthood. However, in order to achieve world
domination, they needed something more. In line with the new image of the
music they would bring to the people, they needed to descend straight to hell

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and set the world on fire, led by a new lightbringer – remember the back cover
of the album and Dickinson holding the torch he used to set hell on fire. The
lightbringer, “Lucifer” in Latin, was very much a deliberate PR move.

Bruce Dickinson lit hell on fire with a torch in 1982.

The story making the rounds about the cover of ‘The Number of the Beast’ is
that Derek initially painted the illustration that became the famous album
cover for the single ‘Purgatory’, but the band’s management decided not to
release it, feeling that it was too rich in detail and too good to be only a single
cover. Riggs later painted a new cover for ‘Purgatory’. You can agree with this
claim or not, but allow me to draw your attention to a few facts…

On the next page, you can see the cover art for ‘Killers’. This was the album with
which Iron Maiden would confirm the great success of their UK debut was not a
fluke. This time, with the backing of famous producer Martin Birch, they decided
to cement their position as the new starts of the UK metal scene, then move on to
bigger and better things. And what could better help them make the giant leap
than getting to grips with a topic which is eternally controversial in music: Satan,
hell, occult themes? They never lose their huge marketing potential.

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Iron Maiden - 'Killers' (1981)

Now, do you see anything strange on the cover of ‘Killers’, anything that might
be linked to the upcoming album, ‘The Number of the Beast’? A hint, an
announcement? No, there are no secret symbols and prophecies, the house
numbers are random, there’s the odd black cat, some storefront signs and
human silhouettes visible through windows. Maybe you should take a closer
look, but I think you’ll notice it only if you own the original record and poster
from 1981. Sadly, all later releases were sloppily made, not scanned from the
original illustration but from already printed records, so what we’re looking
for is blurry, though still visible.

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Can you spot a small silhouette between the letters I and D on the Iron
Maiden logo, just below the left side of the D? Again, please try to look for it
only on original 1981 editions as it looks blurry and with no visible outlines. If
you do happen to won the original edition, you will see a winged creature
with horns on its head, similar to those worn by the devil on the cover of ‘The
Number of the Beast’, formed in smoke and lightning. If you weren’t aware of
this tiny picture, I’m sure it will come as a surprise. The ‘Killers’ cover shows a
devil which truly begins to show itself with that album’s final single,
‘Purgatory’, later to appear on both the cover of ‘The Number of the Beast’
and its two single releases.

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I’ll leave it to you to decide if this is only a coincidence or not. If you believe this
drawing is just a weird stain or caused by the deterioration of the album cover,
feel free to compare it with a friend’s. Riggs is famous for including interesting
details to his cover art for reasons known only to himself, and fans have spent
years unsuccessfully studying and analysing what really needs no analysis.
However, if we look at this (so called) coincidence in the context of the timeline
which led to Di’Anno’s departure, Dickinson’s arrival and the recording of ‘The
Number of the Beast’, this train of thought starts making a lot more sense.

In short: Harris noticed Bruce as far back as the ‘Metal for Muthas’ tour and kept
an eye on him from there, mentioning him to his manager. With ‘Killers’ long
since recorded and ready for a final assault on the UK market, plans were made
for a new record which would introduce Bruce to Iron Maiden, once a suitable
opportunity appeared to remove Di’Anno. During this time, Harris is considering
new songs, a change from Di’Anno’s limits, and he begins writing songs for a
vocalist of Bruce’s range despite Dickinson not being even remotely close to
joining Iron Maiden. He and Smallwood discuss the concept of the new album,
as ‘Killers’ was completed and mainly comprised old and often played Iron
Maiden songs, with just a couple of new entries. When Dennis Stratton left,
Adrian Smith was very new and hadn’t yet made any significant writing input,
while Clive Burr and Dave Murray rarely contributed to the songwriting process
anyway. The only other potential co-author was Paul Di’Anno himself, and he
was involved in the creative process on the title track, ‘Killers’. The rest of the
songs on the album were written by Harris alone. Strangely enough, Iron
Maiden chose not to release the title track as a single, nor did they pick

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‘Wrathchild’, a future classic, for the most part probably because the song draws
heavily on their late seventies roots. They went with a single release of ‘Twilight
Zone’, a song which isn’t even included on ‘Killers’. As all of Iron Maiden’s older
songs, played live for years, slowly lost their original shine, and almost none
were left for a future new album release, Smallwood’s concept probably
provided for flirting with the devil in at least one song with which a young, up
and coming and ever more successful band would ‘tread on the tail’ of the
church, with the potential storm surrounding this escalating and taking the
band to undreamed of – for them – heights.

While still in the planning stages and giving guidelines for ‘Killers’, Rod felt the
need to embellish the finished cover illustration with an additional and almost
unnoticeable detail – the coming devil, not caring if anyone would notice him…
Preparations had begun for “the coming of the beast”, and while Paul Di’Anno
still unaware that he’d been written off, he soon started to notice that the
relationships within the band had begun to change. When you’re on the way
out, you somehow feel it, no one has to tell you explicitly; moreover, the very
recently departed Dennis Stratton had experienced a similar distancing
between himself and the rest of Iron Maiden, so Paul Di’Anno could feel from
experience that the same thing was on the books for him, and soon. After the
release of an atypical lead single ‘Twilight Zone’, a second one followed, just
as unusual and very significant. As I wrote earlier, the official story making the
rounds is that when the single cover illustration was ordered, Derek submitted
what would become the cover of ‘The Number of the Beast’, which was then
saved for the album and he was asked to create something new for
‘Purgatory’. Personally, I don’t really believe this story, but let’s say for a
moment that this is really what happened. Rod Smallwood said this of the
cover: "We said, 'No, that's much too good,' so we kept it for the album. We
had the artwork months before we had the music." If we accept this as true,
knowing that the single’s release date of 15/06/1981, this would mean that
Derek submitted the cover in May 1981 at the latest, if he was to have time to
paint an entirely new cover following the original’s rejection. It would also
mean that he would have to have been commissioned for the cover much
earlier, in April at the latest – and the moment in which it was decided that
‘Purgatory’ would be the second single. According to accepted rules of the
business – and fitting in with this timeline, this would be between February

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and April 1981. Considering that ‘Killers‘ was released at the start of February
1981 and the promotional tour began less than two weeks later, all this
implies is that all plans were in place well in advance. Many have wondered
why ‘Purgatory’ was selected for a single, especially over songs like
‘Wrathchild’, ‘Killers’, or ‘Murders in the Rue Morgue’. Not only did it become
Iron Maiden’s least successful single of all time, not managing to reach even
the top 50 in the charts, but the Irons truly had better options at their disposal.
According to drummer Nicko McBrain, the track is a remake of one of the
band's earlier songs, entitled 'Floating', of which 'Purgatory' is a faster re-
arrangement. Rod Smallwood states that this was because "it wasn't really a
single, it was just lifted off the album which the fans already had.” Really, only
one possibility remains: ‘Purgatory’ was an excellent intro to what was still to
come, especially because of its title. It is widely believed that after dying, the
soul doesn’t go straight to heaven or hell, but to purgatory… and in Iron
Maiden’s case, purgatory would take them straight to hell, something made
very clear by the single’s cover illustration.

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The cover illustration of ‘Purgatory’ – supposedly a substitute for what ended


up as the album cover – depicts an unusual devil (illustrator Derek Riggs later
commented that his inspiration for the face was legendary artist Salvador
Dali), his face rotting away to shot that what lies beneath is the face of Eddie,
Iron Maiden’s mascot. Apart from giving the suggestion of an eternity in
purgatory, the cover also sends a message that there will be no reprieve, and
with the bad (the devil), it can only get worse (Eddie). This illustration not only
hints at the album to come, but also harks back to what we’d already seen in
Iron Maiden’s work. On the cover for the single release of ‘Running Free’, we see
a silhouette of Eddie as he would appear on the cover of Iron Maiden’s debut
album, while here we see management working with a tried and tested
formula… Iron Maiden would use similar trickery again for the release of
‘Somewhere in Time’, using a mirrored image of future Eddie’s head on top of a
time machine, and several more times on later albums. One of the oldest tricks
in the marketing book was sold twice within two years to the same people:
bravo, Iron Maiden management.

As I wondered why Derek would submit the illustration that ultimately became
the cover of ‘Beast’ for this song, I took the time to read its lyrics – considerably
short and repetitive. I concluded that there is no connection, nothing that could
have spurred him to create that illustration based on this song – even if he had
only the name of the song to work with, the ‘Beast’ cover makes no sense since it
depicts an actual “hell”, not purgatory. Be that as it may, Rod’s statements at least
gave hints of what was to come and what I’m claiming here, that the entire
concept of ‘Beast’ was ready months before its release, possibly even before the
release of its predecessor ‘Killers’. That, at least, is my assessment and the reason
why I claim that the devil on the ‘Killers’ cover was a last-minute addition before

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his appearance on ‘Purgatory’ as an allusion to the next record. With the


illustrations for the next three releases – two singles and the album itself – we
were treated to a classical three act drama: battle with the devil (‘Run to the
Hills’), victory over the beast who still rules over humanity (cover of ‘Beast’, the
album itself), and ultimately the death of the devil and Eddie’s ascent from the
flames, carrying the devil’s cut off head to finally announce to the world who truly
rules the netherworld (cover of the ‘Beast’ single). It might all sound funny and
childish, but these gimmicks are exactly what Maiden have sold to the world and
what made them millionaires. Of course, the music itself, which is after all the
most important aspect, is a spectacular product and their opus is a work of art,
this cannot be called into question. Everything came together perfectly for
Maiden, which is why, both as a fan and the author of this book, I’m deeply
convinced that the timeline I’ve suggested is the true one. I understand that it
might be weird for them, and perhaps a little embarrassing to admit that this is
show business, emphasis on the business, and that everything they do is done for
love of the music, for the artistic expression, but also for the money.

I don’t believe a single fan would begrudge them this. In our next chapter
(TNOTB book), we’ll take a look at the year in which the album was recorded
and the circumstances which led to it becoming what it is, and then I’ll
continue my musings and present some facts clarifying the timeline of writing
tracks on ‘The Number of the Beast’, as well as who wrote them. Many things
point to my being correct in my thinking, but I’ll leave it to you, dear fans,
readers, to judge for yourselves whether ‘The Number of the Beast’ was
planned, announced and created much earlier, specifically for Bruce.

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We return to the ‘Twilight Zone’, the illustration for a single that never found
its way onto the original album release and that has some specific detailing.
Although Derek explained that the main character always has to be the
central, dominant figure, this is not the case here, which connects the song in
a way with ‘Women in Uniform’, on which former British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher is the first figure to catch the eye of the beholder. Can it
be interpreted that Eddie is not the centrepiece on either cover because
neither song actually appears on the original album release? It’s interesting

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that Maiden were quite heavily criticised for this single, the media having
interpreted it as ‘gratuitous sexism’. What bothered them was that the
mascot Eddie is stalking a young, half-dressed woman in her room, yet the
failed to grasp the context of the song. It’s more than likely that they didn’t
bother reading the lyrics or they would understand that Eddie represents the
dead lover of the song who is trying to contact his love, Charlotte (the
protagonist of the song ‘Charlotte the Harlot’ from the previous album), but
he is unable to take on a corporeal form, therefore is only visible as a ghost in
the mirror. Defending the illustration, famous journalist Gary Bushell wrote
the same thing, while I’d like to add a few more details to pay attention to.
First, a framed picture of Eddie is on the dressing table, indicating a previous
romantic involvement between Eddie and the girl. If you zoom in on the
picture, you’ll also see a dedication from Eddie, addressed to a girl named
Charlotte – To Charlotte, Be my Love, Eddie. In other words, this is the first
portrait of Charlotte, who has become an unavoidable character in Iron
Maiden songs.

This failure to understand the content makes it noticeable that even then,
political correctness could go a little too far, in spite of being considered a
present-day plague regardless of general social attitudes and alleged
‘freedom of artistic expression’. Although we believe today’s world is much
more liberal, that more violence passes in movies, nudity and immorality in
the tabloids, brutality on album covers etc, ask yourselves whether a cover
would pass muster today on which Eddie kills Boris Johnson with a vaccine,
holds up a decapitated head like an ISIL member, or where the red devil on
‘Run to the Hills’ might be taken to represent a negative image of minorities
like Native Americans, and so on?

Notice that on this illustration Derek Riggs introduces or continues with


small details of his own, that would later become the standard on almost
all his works, such as the Grim Reaper, the moon, bats, a cat, and
miniature supporting characters like the topless female demon with a
devil’s tail and a necklace, the crucifix under the dresser and Mickey
Mouse hiding behind Eddie’s picture, plus two additional hidden trolls.
The view from the window depicts a scene suggesting it’s the street from
the ‘Killers’ cover.

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Details on the ‘Twilight Zone’ cover art

Aside from the existing illustrations, there is a whole series of works done for
various radio and TV programmes, for different publishers and record
companies, special edition shirts and so on. The general public is still
unfamiliar with many of them today, and even Derek can no longer remember
how many he made. One thing is identical on all of them: Eddie wears trainers,
blue jeans and a plain yellow t-shirt, and judging from this it seems like Derek
intended for him to turn into a brand, a comic book hero and merrymaker,
like a beloved villain. However, once Eddie donned the strait jacket on the
‘Piece of Mind’ cover, he began to go through various incarnations, losing the
charm of the ‘early days’ era.

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Equally, there is a whole series of illustrations made for promotional purposes


of all kinds, including for Billboard Magazine. In these cases, the basic ‘Killers’
illustration was upgraded according to requirements, a practice Iron Maiden
have kept up to this day. Here’s a specific Scandinavian example.

'Today, you can see the ‘Killers’ theme in many


places, even unexpected ones like this lovely
pizza. The internet holds countless examples
of ‘Killers’ tattoos, graffiti, graphics,
sculptures, animations, football banners,
stickers modified t-shirtas etc. All this has
spurred original creator Derek Riggs to reach
into his old drawers several times through the
years and breathe new life into this old, but
legendary illustration. See how and why on the
next page.

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As the ‘Killers’ cover became


legendary through the years, not
only among Iron Maiden fans but
in the mainstream, Derek
received more and more
requests to repeat his
masterpiece. The debut album of
well known all-girl Maiden
tribute band, The Iron Maidens, is
a modern take on ‘Killers’ and its
main character is named Edwina.
The cover contains several details
from the original Maiden cover.
It's classic 'Eddie goes to
Hollywood to make a plastis
surgery and a gender change' story.

In addition to covers like the above for Iron Maidens, Derek Riggs continues
to make fans happy with a string of seemingly inexhaustible ideas based on
‘Killers’, decades after the album’s release. Thus, he thought up ‘Grillers’, a
barbecue apron that’s available to purchase on his official website.

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A media trend for reverse cover arts of cult albums was recently released and
‘Killers’ was selected to be the Iron Maiden for this project. Sadly, the illustrator
showed nothing new, merely taking Derek’s existing illustrations and mixing
them up, which only served to highlight the greatness of his imagination and
proves that many people in this world are able to copy someone’s painting
technique quite well, but you can’t copy their imagination.

In late 1980, Derek Riggs was commissioned to create a Christmas card to be


sent to a number of fans, business partners, media reps, publishers etc. He’s
published the illustration for this first Christmas card on his website, writing:
“Here is a small version of the very first Christmas card that I painted for
Maiden back in about 1980, I think. It's actually the apartment I used to live
in in North London. It's the same block of apartments that you can see on the
Killers album, but this is the inside of it. That's my couch and my cat hiding
behind it. His name was ‘Magus Matterguru, master of the universe’ and he
had a sister, she was called ‘Catblack the wizard's hat’, but she isn't in the
picture. They are both long dead now, but the picture remains.”

One of the original Christmas cards was recently sold on eBay for an
unbelievable 837,50 USD. On it, you can see a destroyed room with Christmas
decorations, broken glass, tree and presents all over the place, and Eddie
killing Father Christmas with a bloody guitar. This rare card was signed by all
five band members, no printed signatures as is the case today, with the line
‘A Merry Christmas & Happy New Year, Oh-Yo-Yo-Yo-Yo’, an allusion to Iron

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Maiden’s concert interactions with their fans when playing ‘Drifter’, and
borrowed from the Police song ‘Walking on the Moon’, as I mentioned earlier.
As ‘Killers’ was already ‘on the doorstep’ at Christmas 1980, Eddie already has
a new, more fleshed out appearance and many confuse this card with the
official 1981 ‘Killers’ card. That one is different, however, but connected to the
first. At the time, it was signed by the band’s new line-up, with Bruce Dickinson
as the singer, with the message ‘Wishing You a Killer Kristmas’. The illustration
shows Eddie riding some ominous reindeer as an ‘evil Santa Claus’, suggesting
that when he killed Father Christmas on the first card he took his place and is now
delivering presents, accompanied by demonic Santa’s helpers. Looking closer,
you’ll see Superman in the background, as well as an ‘emergency exit’ on the
rooftops. Even the 1982 card appears to continue the story of the first two.

The Christmas cards are the end of my overview of Derek Riggs’ work on ‘Killers’,
and the legacy of the album’s visuals. What’s obvious on every illustration is that
these were days of experiments and finding the right direction in which the
Maiden visual story and Eddie himself would continue to develop. Many will
agree that it was also the beginning of the ‘golden age of merchandise.

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MAIDEN JAPAN
Iron Maiden’s legendary live EP ‘Maiden Japan’ was recorded during the
Asian leg of their ‘Killer World Tour’ in May 1981. There are two basic
versions of the EP, and I don’t mean the different covers I mentioned earlier.
The original Japanese edition contains four songs that played at 45RPM:
‘Running Free’, ‘Remember Tomorrow’, ‘Killers’ and ‘Innocent Exile’, while
the international edition also contains ‘Wrathchild’. The concert was filmed
on 23/05/1981 at the Aichi Kōsei Nenkin Kaikan, Chikusa-ku, in the city of
Nagoya, but the band initially had no intention of releasing an EP. However,
Toshiba EMI insisted on a live release and with good reason. Namely, Iron
Maiden’s great strength was in their live performances, and as Martin Birch
had perfected their live playing during the album sessions, making their
sound surgically clean, ‘Maiden Japan’ was meant as a demonstration of
their power. Less than a year earlier, the band had recorded a live video at
London’s Rainbow Theatre, and here they were, already playing in a venue
at the same capacity and as a headline act on the other side of the world.
One curiosity is that the venue (which was demolished in 2008) could take
exactly 1666 audience members. Because there was no way to translate this
with any meaning and make sense of the title ‘Maiden Japan’, the Japanese
title of the concert EP was ‘Metal Army’.

Despite legendary producer Martin Birch’s work on a famous Deep Purple


album, at this stage he was only starting out on his Iron Maiden journey, so
the sound on ‘Maiden Japan’ are mostly the achievement of Doug Hall, their
long-time sound tech who perfectly captured the quality of their
performance and the overall experience, whether the band’s or the fans’ –
who were then still a fairly reserved bunch, but surprisingly loud when it
came to Iron Maiden. It’s hard to say whether there was any intent to
release a full live album, and although Steve and Rod were already eyeing
Bruce Dickinson with no one the wiser, one of the Japanese concerts –
though not the one featured on the EP – was recorded in full and given an
obscure promotional release to a closed circle of people and members of
the official Japanese Iron Maiden fan club. Had Paul Di’Anno remained in

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the band for a while longer, or if Bruce had refused their offer to join, it’s
very likely that this record would have become the first real Maiden live
album, featuring a whopping seventeen furiously played songs. Alongside
‘Wrathchild’, ‘Purgatory’, ’Sanctuary’, ‘Remember Tomorrow’, ‘Another
Life’, (drum Solo), ‘Genghis Khan’, ‘Killers’, ‘Innocent Exile’, ‘Twilight Zone’,
‘Strange World’, ‘Murders In the Rue Morgue’, ‘Phantom of the Opera’,
‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Running Free’, ‘Transylvania’, (guitar Solo), ‘Drifter’ and ‘I've
Got the Fire’, all that was missing were ‘The Ides of March’, ‘Prodigal Son’,
‘Prowler’, ‘Charlotte the Harlot’, ‘Women in Uniform’ and ‘Invasion’ for it to
contain everything Iron Maiden had recorded in the previous six years.
Commenting this edition, German fan Sebastian Kluth makes a nice
comment: “Nothing on this powerful live document indicates the tensions
that started to grow in the band or the bad performances by the singer
related to bad habits. Maiden Japan is the testament of a band that has
peaked really quickly, sounds hungry and seems ready to conquer the world.
Nobody could predict that the line-up would fall apart only a few months
after the release of this often-overlooked gem.”

Since there’s a very good quality radio broadcast recording of the whole gig
from The Sun Plaza, Tokyo, 24/05/1981, mixed at the Nimbus 9 Studio in
Canada, and a second, from which the ‘Maiden Japan’ EP songs were taken,
the question is – is it possible that all the concerts on the Japanese tour
were recorded just in case, to better select the best performances? Also,
given that it’s almost 40 years since the concert, would the band have the
energy and willingness for an official worldwide release of this edition, since
if you follow the comments about it anywhere online, the fans have come
to the conclusion that this kind of heavy, raw sound will never be repeated.
Their entire subsequent career contains nothing like the full ‘Maiden Japan’
concert. Clive’s drumming was as precise as clockwork, showing those
qualities for which many fans prefer him over Nicko. Steve Harris dominates
as always, but in this recording, he plays with more fire and energy than on
the studio versions. Paul Di’Anno’s singing is at its best and there’s no hint
that he would soon be a former member. Charisma and raw energy spark
from him in the faster songs and he performs the slower ones with an
unbeatable dose of emotion. Listening to this recording, many fans asked
‘ok, we hear non-stop that he had to go because that his performance

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suffered due to the drugs and alcohol, but this is almost unnoticeable on
any available bootleg’. Not only did he sing, he knew how to make the crowd
have fun, established good communication with them and bring the concert
to its culmination. I’ve already said everything about the perfect combo of
Dave and Adrian; the chemistry of their dual guitars is palpable, whether
dreamy ballad passages like in ‘Strange World’ or the fast and furious
strikes. The balance between fierce riffs and progressive melody, raw power
or ear-pleasing harmonies was just the right formula and what Maiden
needed to take a ‘step forward’.

As I’ve already noted, on the original cover planned for the EP, Eddie holds
up the axe-decapitated head of Paul Di’Anno, who had left the band just a
few days before the release. However, for most publishers this sort of
illustration was too aggressive and a new cover was commissioned at very
short notice just prior to the release. Unconfirmed rumours claim that Rod
Smallwood himself was the initiator of this self-censorship, becoming
nervous after he received the illustration for approval and confirmation,
knowing as he did that Paul Di’Anno’s Iron Maiden days were numbered
despite the exact date being uncertain. Still, that same Rod Smallwood
would insist on the album’s release in Venezuela with the original cover art,
precisely in 1987, so in some territories they evidently had no problem with
the content.

As of today, Iron Maiden have played 66 big concerts in ten large Japanese
cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Omiya,
Yokohama, Sendai, Sapporo), a feat only a very small number of world-
famous acts can boast. The ‘Maiden Japan’ EP was a bullseye for EMI and
Toshiba both as an event and an idea. For anyone who remembers, namely,
it also marked the founding of the official Japanese Iron Maiden fan club,
which was discontinued only at the end of the 1980s when the fan club
became global. Since that moment, whether cause and effect or something
else, the number of concerts in Japan has fallen drastically and the
fanaticism of the Japanese fans slowly calmed down. I believe the release
of the entire concert recording on its fortieth anniversary, 24/05/2021,
would be an excellent move to reconcile the slightly neglected love affair
between Iron Maiden and Japan, the way it once was.

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KILLER WORLD TOUR


The ‘Killer World Tour’ was a special Maiden tour in many things. In addition
to being the first Iron Maiden tour with the word ‘World’ in the name, it was
also the first and last album tour in Maiden history not to have the same
singer from start to finish. True, Dennis Stratton was also replaced by Adrian
Smith, but this was just a trigger for two other switches that simply had to
happen in order for Iron Maiden to be read to conquer the world. As early as
the end of 1980, Dickinson’s arrival was a closely guarded secret manifested
initially in Steve Harris’s wishes and later a business assignment for Rod
Smallwood, carried out as I described in my book 'The Number of the Beast'.
However, from the fans’ point of view, and even the media’s, things didn’t
look that way at all. If Dennis Stratton’s departure was in any way predictable,
be it because of the generation gap within the band or the drastically differing
views of musical creativity, Paul Di’Anno and later Clive Burr weren’t as easy
to foresee. Moreover, although Bruce Dickinson’s joining the band was one
of the key things that made them what they are today, many fans at the time
– and to this day – never got over Paul Di’Anno, claiming that after he left the
band’s raw energy at every concert was simply never the same.

With this tour, Maiden had to do the unavoidable – step outside the comfort
zone of a top-level club act and into the uncharted territory of big stages, where
they would more often be cast in the role of headline act and the band the
public was there to see. As I’ve said earlier, Smith’s arrival was one big change.
Urchin’s guitar player not only complemented Dave Murray perfectly, but he
brought something else to the band that was new. He was a perfect back vocal
with whom Iron Maiden’s live performances gained in richness, something
they’d visibly been lacking before – while Steve Harris was known to step up to
the mic on occasion, he simply wasn’t very good at it, hand on heart. And while
Dennis Stratton loved a good melody, Smith’s was ‘melodiousness on steroids’,
carried with a killer bite but with a classical refinement. He was unable to
showcase his composing and text writing skills on ‘Killers’, but it was obvious
just from his approach to live performance that his time was still to come.
Without doubt, Smith’s arrival defined Maiden’s sound, in tandem with Martin
Birch’s – and it’s this that makes all the difference between the first and second

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albums. Regardless of Bruce Dickinson’s later ascension, listen to any


instrumental section of ‘Killers’ and in terms of production you’ll notice there’s
no difference from 'The Number of the Beast' despite these songs having been
written well before even the songs appearing on the first album. Adrian Smith
definitely wasn’t there to be just ‘the second guitar’, something he very quickly
showed, and his earlier friendship with Dave Murray dispelled any idea of
animosity from the very beginning.

For this tour, Iron Maiden booked dates in a total of 15 countries, four more
than their previous tour. This time, they also caught ‘overseas’ countries like
the USA, Canada and Japan, one reason for the tour to get the ‘World’ title
although obviously it’s well below today’s standards for an Iron Maiden world
tour. The fourth county outside the usual list was Yugoslavia, where they also
played for the first time ever and became one of the rare foreign metal bands
to play in any of the countries of the Eastern Bloc. If we count Uriah Heep or
Deep Purple as metal, they can be said to be third, but in terms of ‘heavy metal’
they were definitely the first to ‘break through’ the borders. The only Norway
date was ultimately cancelled. The tour began on Rod’s birthday, 17/02, in
Ipswich, exactly two weeks after the official ‘Killers’ release, and Iron Maiden
played twenty-four UK dates in short order, with Trust as their special guests.
In that short period of time, interestingly enough, they celebrated three band
birthdays, those of Adrian Smith, Clive Burr and Steve Harris.

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The mid-tour change of singer and visits overseas weren’t the only special
things about the tour. On the previous page’s photo and the tour book, you
can see a visual of Eddie from the first record as the final backdrop in the
concert finale, a primitive version of what we know today as ‘Big Eddie’. As
the tour progressed, the visual changed, as did the lighting rig setup, so we
were treated to several different backdrops with ‘Killers’ visuals.

The set list contained a massive eighteen songs, with the recording of 'The Ides
of March' always played as the intro, followed by the hit ‘Wrathchild’. The rest
of the standard set list was as follows: ‘Purgatory’, ‘Sanctuary’, ‘Remember
Tomorrow’, ‘Another Life’ + drum solo, ‘Genghis Khan’, ‘Killers’, ‘Innocent
Exile’, ‘Murders In The Rue Morgue’, ‘Twilight Zone’, ‘Phantom Of The Opera’,
‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Running Free’, ‘Transylvania’, (Guitar solo – Dave Murray),
‘Drifter’, ‘Prowler’, another reason the tour was unique – almost all the songs
from the current album were played, while two were played only at some
concerts: ‘Strange World’ and ‘I’ve Got the Fire’. As opposed to the first album
tour, the list was a lot more uniform, adding drum and guitar solos and Paul’s
standard ‘playing’ with the public in ‘Drifter’, later taken over by Bruce
Dickinson who would go on to move this interaction to his own performances
of ‘Running Free’.

Another curiosity was that Maiden played ’22 Acacia Avenue’, ‘Children of the
Damned’, ‘Run to the Hills’ and ‘The Prisoner’ – something seen again only
during the ‘Give me Ed ‘Til I’m Dead’ tour when Iron Maiden premiered
‘Wildest Dreams’ before the release of the album it was on, to promote
‘Dance of Death’ and give a bit of a burn to Metallica, then in the midst of
their war on illegal downloads. By 15/11 and the end of the Killer Tour Iron
Maiden already had ready songs with Bruce Dickinson, and performing the
earlier mentioned four tracks at two UK concerts was a means of testing
public opinion and their new singer, introducing their new style, which would
define heavy metal for the 80s and Iron Maiden for life. Moreover, on
23/12/81 the band’s sound check was recorded and they played ‘Hallowed Be
Thy Name’, meaning five new songs were played to test the pulse of the
audience. On that date, at the ‘secret show’ at the small but historically
significant venue for Iron Maiden, the band celebrated yet another birthday

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on stage, Dave Murray’s. Di’Anno’s wasn’t done the same way only because
the band was on route to Japan at the time.

The changes and problems that led to Dennis Stratton’s leaving the band
weren’t a onetime thing – something you’ll be able to read about in the book
about the debut album – and neither were those tied to Paul Di’Anno. The
paradox is that in all these years, so many things have been said and written
about his departure both by Paul Di’Anno and the band members that it’s
hard to parse what the actual truth is, but one thing is certain. Nothing
happened suddenly and no decisions were made overnight. When you dig a
little deeper, regardless of and objective reasons usually noted by the media
– opiate abuse, the inability to perform live and live up to the band’s rise, the
impression is that Paul Di’Anno was pushed out slowly, systematically and
subtly and that he would have been kicked out even if he’d done everything
to perfection. Steve was already eyeing Dickinson and it simply had to
happen.

In addition to the UK, Maiden had great support on this tour from France,
with many French fans remaining loyal to the ‘Killers’ era to this day. Special
guests at these concerts were mostly More and Ocean, with Trust and Scum
joining the band for the last few French dates. Germany saw 23 dates and
Italy ten, although at least four German gigs never happened, Berlin among
them – cancelled due to low ticket sales, and there are indications that the
HM Festival gig in Saarbrucken never took place: the band didn’t announce it,
there’s no material evidence of the concert and the audio bootleg was proved
to be fake. However, Maiden played two concerts in Milan on 30/03/81, a
shorter set at 16h and their regular concert at 21h. Altogether, only nine
concerts were cancelled during the entire tour, of which some were still
rescheduled for a later date.

The support bands on this tour were More, Ocean, Trust, Scum and the Joe
Perry Band, with Trust occasionally acting as a co-headliner, while Judas Priest
headlined almost all the US dates. The last two concerts of forty in the US,
Iron Maiden played as the opening act for UFO, and headlined three
themselves, in Detroit, Milwaukee and Lynwood, and two in Canada. The
Milwaukee concert was part of Summerfest and entry was free. Other

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headliners with Iron Maiden at some gigs were Whitesnake and Accept, and
the band also opened for Blue Öyster Cult, Foreigner and Kansas.

Before heading to the US for the first time, opening the tour in Las Vegas,
Maiden returned from a triumphal tour of Japan, where they’d played five
concerts on four dates, in three cities: Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. This was
their second visit to Tokyo and they played two gigs there in one day, another
thing that makes the tour specific. There’s also the fact that this was when
they recorded and released their famous EP ‘Maiden Japan’ while the tour
was still in full swing. However, as the EP was released on 14/09/81, and Paul
Di’Anno’s final concert with Iron Maiden was on 10/09/81 in Copenhagen, he
didn’t see the release as a current member. When Bruce Dickinson continued
the tour just six weeks later, with the band going on to play as many as five
songs from their upcoming album, we cannot ignore the question of whether
Bruce had been tasked with learning the songs well in advance of what is
officially known, because learning a full concert set list in such a short time,
as well as writing, arranging and rehearsing new songs isn’t exactly a piece of
cake.

In every aspect, the ‘Killer World Tour’ was a success, and Maiden wanted to
present their Japanese debut as a triumph and a harbinger of future
successes. They wanted to give everyone who had already seen them live and
everyone who had yet to experience this an example of what a band that skips
several steps at a time sounded like. It was a little odd that they did it when
their vocalist was on the way out, but it was obvious that they had good
reason to believe the best was yet to come. Other notable moments on tour
were Paul and Dave’s impromptu jamming with members of Trust at the
concert in Orange, France – the only Maiden concert where they were guests
of legendary band Foreigner, and the Belgrade concert at the ‘Everybody
March to the Dance’ (‘svi marš na ples’) festival just four days before Paul left
the band in Copenhagen. All the tour lists state that Maiden were the opening
act for local greats Bijelo Dugme (White Button), and technically this may be
correct but the truth is a little different after all. The story was told to me by
Croatian heavy metal legends Ante Janković, singer of Divlje Jagode (Wild
Strawberries) and Bruno Langer, bass player of Atomsko Sklonište (Atomic
Shelter), who also performed alongside Iron Maiden that night.

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Divlje jagode are definitely heavy metal pioneers on the territory of former
Yugoslavia, and like Iron Maiden, they’ve lasted to this day. They formally
came together sometime between 1976 and 1977, releasing their self-titled
debut at the end of 1978, with a followup ‘Stakleni Hotel’ (‘Glass Hotel’)
released in 1981. If their first album was a Balkan copy of bands like Uriah
Heep, Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Scorpions, inspired as the band was by
classic hard rock, their second was a gentle change of direction towards what
was popular at the start of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement
and closer to the sound of early Judas Priest. There were many moments
reminiscent of Priest’s early material like ‘British Steel’ and the only difference
was in Rob Halford’s superior vocal ability and Divlje Jagode’s affinity for the
occasional ballad in the style of Scorpions. The song ‘Stakleni Hotel’, however,
which also lent its title to their second album, was a textbook demonstration
of a fast and infectious metal hit with a riff familiar to Maiden fans. This riff
from a 1981 song would be heard some years later in the intro to ‘2 Minutes
to Midnight’. Then-singer Ante Janković fondly remembers their ‘Svi marš na
ples’ performance where Divlje Jagode played an afternoon set just before
Iron Maiden, the band watching them from the wings, as backstages weren’t
really a thing as we know them today.

“I have to be honest with you, even though it’s going to seem pretentious,
but at the time, as far as live performances were concerned no one in former
Yugoslavia could touch us and we were leaving everyone in the dust. If Divlje
Jagode were playing in a town, everyone else stayed well away. Even at the
legendary ‘Svi marš na ples’ festival at the Belgrade Hippodrome, we played
right before Iron Maiden, and we were the only ones Maiden approached
afterwards, congratulated and said we were ‘a brilliant band’. I remember
that like it was yesterday. It was pretty cold with forecast rain, and we all
played naked to the waist. I was wearing those purple trousers, a dog collar,
leather belt and bracelets, and Ale (bass player and later singer) was also
topless, wearing heavy chains. When we finished playing, we passed Iron
Maiden who were coming on stage and getting ready for their set, and one of
them stopped Ale, grabbed him by the chains around his torso, shook him and
shouted ‘good band’ while the rest yelled ‘brilliant band’. That was one of
their final performances with Paul Di’Anno.“

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Divlje Jagode - 'Svi marš na ples' festival 1981.

Bass player and Maiden founder Steve Harris and then-official photographer
Ross Halfin have published their diaries for the public and these contain
detailed descriptions of all they saw in Belgrade back in 1981, but even Dave
Murray recalled their performance and Divlje Jagode in a 2003 interview he
gave me, as I wanted to hear a first-hand account of his impressions –
especially Divlje Jagode, my favourite band next to Iron Maiden, and their one
and only chance to take to the same stage. “The band name doesn’t ring any
bells, but this was our first foray into the so-called Communist countries and
we really didn’t know what to expect, either production-wise or the scene
itself. We didn’t spend all our time at the festival. We did a sound check in front
of an audience in the afternoon, which was a weird and unusual experience, and
spent the rest of the time until after our own performance there. The concert
production was unfortunately substandard, even disappointing even for the
time, but the band that played before us was fantastic and the audience
response to them was fantastic. We actually heard two or three very good
bands. At some point we even asked ourselves if we’d be able to top the
enthusiasm of the audience after that performance. I think our photographer
Ross took pictures of the band before us too, ask him if he can find an old
photo.” Unfortunately, Ross Halfin got back to me saying that he hadn’t taken
any photos that day except of Maiden and the people around them.

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After all these stories, what would it look like if I hadn’t also contacted Bruno
Langer, legendary leader of the even more legendary band Atomsko Sklonište?
If you’re wondering why, all will be clear and shortly. “Ah… that festival. We had
an unforgettable concert after which the Politika ekspres paper printed a huge
headline ‘Atomsko Sklonište at 500 kmph! Bojan Maljević was a producer on
Belgrade TV and he and his crew covered the festival, where we, Atomsko
Sklonište, were supposed to be the headline act. We’d practically agreed on the
whole story and it was beginning to spread with announcements in the media,”
Bruno started his story. “What I’m telling you now is something I’ve never said
in public before, but we’re certainly going to explain it one day in a book. After
a while, Bojan and his team, who’d worked a series of big projects before,
started to have doubts ‘is Atomsko Sklonište a big enough name to carry the
already booked festival’ that was supposed to be called ‘Atomic Rock
Happening’ and was meant to be us with a lot of guests. Whether because of
this doubt or something else was behind it, I don’t know, but what we’d agreed
on was practically stolen from us, because the organizers decided to play it safe,
so they had Bijelo Dugme headline instead and changed the name of the festival
to ‘Svi marš na ples’. Boško Obradović (band member), who had arranged
everything and on whose initiative the festival was even going ahead, calmly
listened to all these explanations and then said ‘OK, the offer is still great but
we’re not performing at that festival’. But what happened? The audience
wanted real, fierce rock, not an imposed new wave, so they started a boycott
and ticket sales fell significantly. Then all these people from the organisation
and Centralturist, the company selling the tickets, came to a decision to urgently
invite a foreign band and try to save the day somehow, and it was decided that
the band would be Iron Maiden. They were at the beginning of their
international career but they were still affordable. But the damage was already
done and even after Iron Maiden were announced ticket sales grew slowly, and
then it happened. Maksa Čatović, a legendary concert promotor today, who was
involved in the whole story, invited us back, practically asking us to come and
save the festival and offering better terms and so on. Boško said ‘lads, if you
accept this I’m out of the band’. We were in an unenviable situation, but we
found a solution which was to hit them with a sky-high price to make them shit
their pants as soon as they saw it and… well, if they accept, they accept and if
they don't… well, ‘adio, goodbye’. Moreover, we did all we could so they wouldn’t accept
– we were deliberately being demanding. We requested to arrive in Belgrade by
plane, and for the most luxurious black Mercedes to be waiting for us at the

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airport, and in addition to the fee for our performance we also added daily costs
and wages. I’ve never told anyone the dizzying amount but you’re not going to
believe this – they agreed! They were so desperate to get us that they allowed
us to charge them more than Bijelo Dugme, and we almost surpassed Maiden’s
price, and we had dinner in the same restaurant with Iron Maiden and I have to
say they’re great guys and we had a good time. Later, in the 90s, they were
playing in Italy and a journalist from the region asked if they knew any bands
from this territory and the band member being interviewed said ‘how could we
not – Atomic Shelter! They wrecked it in 1981 at a gig with us in Belgrade’. (see
photo below) It’s good for the public to finally find out what happened and how
and to stop with the myths of Iron Maiden playing as someone’s opening act,
and who played before them. I’ve told you all this because I want to stress that
when the New Wave happened, Divlje Jagode and we were the only ones to stay
true to rock and we never betrayed that, and the audience rewarded us for it.
Iron Maiden’s first performance in Yugoslavia fit our stories perfectly. The
following year, we released our best-selling album ‘Mentalna Higijena’ (‘Mental
Hygiene’), Divlje Jagode released the legendary ‘Motori’ (‘Motorbikes’), and on
the other side Iron Maiden released 'The Number of the Beast' and the rest is
history, which is the point of everything. The audience and the rock fans
appreciated the honesty and refusal to bend to the trends, and we and Jagode
gave them that throughout our careers.”

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For those with little knowledge of rock events in former Yugoslavia, the ‘Svi marš
na ples’ festival happened on the 5th and 6th of September 1981 at the Belgrade
Hippodrome, with daily audiences numbering between thirty and thirty six
thousand people and a music programme intended to be 36 hours of non-stop
music. As I’ve written above, the idea for the festival came from Boško Obradović,
co-leader, songwriter and member of Atomsko Sklonište. According to
preliminary plans, Eric Clapton and Alexis Corner were intended to be the
international guests, but after Clapton cancelled due to illness and Corner
followed suit, on Atomsko’s initiative it was decided to invite the leading domestic
heavy metal, hard rock and rock bands instead. Many of them refused, however,
feeling they were big enough already and not wanting to be the opening act for
people they considered their peers. Although Atomsko Sklonište had got the ball
rolling, the organizers were afraid that heavy metal wasn’t attractive enough to
entice large crowds, so they played it safe and decided that the headliners would
be Yugoslavia’s rock mammoths Bijelo Dugme, with a mammoth media
campaign. The festival changed its name to the title of one of their songs, and
many journalists at the time felt that the campaign was unfairly focusing on Bijelo
Dugme and not the rest of the bands, who were supposed to perform equal
length sets over the two days. Many more bands refused to take part, legends of
today like Azra, Buldožer, Generacija 5, Zana, Piloti, Parni Valjak, Rock Machine,
Električni Orgazam, Smak, Idoli, Stijene, Šarlo Akrobata. Both promoters and the
media were forcing the New Wave narrative, a post punk genre leaning towards
pop and ska rhythms, but the audiences wanted real rock and metal and started
to boycott the whole idea. Tickets for the festival cost a mere 100 dinars – in
comparison, a bottle of Coca-Cola at the time cost 20 and two sausages in a bun
50 dinars. Nevertheless, the boycott was such that the promotors were forced to
invite Iron Maiden, who were still not too expensive, and later beg Atomsko
Sklonište to return.

View of the festival and audience at the back.


On the next page Iron Maiden having dinner backstage.

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Nothing at the concert worked in terms of organization. The programme was


delayed from the start by a full four hours, the first press conference was 90
minutes late. Many of the announced young and unestablished bands had to
cancel their performances, but Atomsko Sklonište were brilliant as headliners
of the first day. After Iron Maiden were booked to help ticket sales, they were
intended to headline the second day, but the delays were compounded by an
unstable electrical supply, shoddy lighting and a lack of stage equipment. At
the time, Yugoslavia was suffering through power shortages and the
organizers’ request to be connected to the city supply was refused by
‘Elektrodistribucija’ with the approval of the mayor at the time. The
organizers were forced to hire power supplies from ‘Film city’, taking only two
of the six they were offered, causing significant problems with sound and
lighting during the festival. Because of this, unable to use the lighting capacity
to the full and knowing this would only lead to a poor concert, Iron Maiden
agreed to a compromise and scheduled their set for 18h, with Bijelo Dugme
playing after them. Maiden had been invited to headline and save the festival
from a boycott, they were paid like headliners, but technical difficulties led
them to refuse to play at the scheduled time, and later to this whole story.
Considering the myth mania sweeping Yugoslavia at the time, especially
where Bijelo Dugme were concerned, it’s important to show the other
perspective. In addition to power issues, there were problems with the water
supply with only two functioning pipes making for huge queues and requiring
bouncers to regulate them. Hastily constructed toilet facilities were too
crowded and quickly collapsed from the horde of visitors, and the effect
wasn’t helped by the night time rain that quickly turned the ground to mud.
In his diary, Steve Harris recalls the poorly constructed stage made of wood
and with no roof, noting that if rain had fallen the whole thing would probably
explode. Music critics of the day judged the festival successful and interesting
in many aspects, but a failure in others. Following this event, organizer Maksa
Čatović withdrew from the business for several years.

Ross Halfin took a series of excellent photos at this concert, but one on the
next page features people Maiden fans won’t know. Slađana Milošević and
her band also performed that night and the band posed for a photo with
them. If you’re interested in hearing their 1981 sound, search for ‘Slađana
Milošević – Amsterdam’.

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Iron Maiden’s Yugoslavia concert in 1981 led to enormous sales of ‘Killers’ and
the only Maiden single released in ex-Yugoslavia, ‘Twilight Zone’. I’ll write
about what happened because Maiden accepted the challenge later on, with
the disclaimer that many readers outside the region don’t know. Under Josip
Broz –Tito, Yugoslavia nimbly sailed between two political blocs, Russia and
the Western world, and as opposed to the countries behind the Iron Curtain
it was much more open to the western culture and way of life, which was not
the case in say Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. However, all these
countries carefully watched what Yugoslavia was doing, so Iron Maiden’s visit
didn’t go unnoticed. Without this test visit – the ‘first swallows’ as we like to
call it, Maiden would never have had such an easy time taking these
‘forbidden’ territories by storm in the mid-80s, for all their success.
Comparing the biggest names in the genre, Metallica’s first gig in Poland was
in 1987, Hungary in 1988, Czech Republic in 1993 and ex-Yugoslavia in 1999.
AC/DC played Poland and Hungary in 1991, Czech Republic in 1996 and
Slovenia in 1999. Judas Priest came to ex-Yugoslavia in 1991, Hungary in 1996,
Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia in 1999. From today’s perspective when
there are ever fewer witnesses to the time, it’s easy to take all these Iron
Maiden successes for granted.

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The negative stats of this tour are just ten or so cancelled concerts, two of
which were because of poor ticket sales (Berlin, Germany and Winschoten,
Netherlands), and four were simply rescheduled to other dates. Symbolically,
the last of these four was the Copenhagen date that turned out to be Paul
Di’Anno’s final concert with Iron Maiden.

However, the breakout moment for Iron Maiden’s career trajectory was their
departure for the USA and Canada – which almost didn’t happen due to
circumstances I’ll describe later in this chapter. The first stop on this trip was
Las Vegas and you can see a photo on the bottom of the page. Paul Di’Anno
was at the pinnacle of his performing powers and few would have assumed
that they wouldn’t see him sing for Iron Maiden again. On the photo, he was
already the former singer though unaware of the fact, and Bruce Dickinson
was fast preparing for what would come next. The question of how the split
with Paul happened has been brought up many times, and the responses
always came down to the usual clichés of irreconcilable differences caused by
opiate and alcohol abuse. Di’Anno is a controversial person in some ways, but
there are indications that allow for speculation that he was very subtly
sacrificed. For the greater good, certainly, but still – sacrificed.

Despite the band’s success and quick rise, Steve Harris was facing a wall in an
artistic sense. Vocal limitations stifled his creativity when composing, and
once he’d heard Bruce Dickinson and the possibilities of his dramatic
performance and vocal range, he was no longer ready to stagnate as an
author. He recorded all the band’s remaining unreleased songs and a couple
of new tracks to make ‘Killers’, but decided on a drastic turnaround for the
next release. But let’s start at the beginning…

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Paul Di’Anno was in Maiden from 1978 to the end of 1981. In those three
years and couple of months, he recorded the band’s first two albums, five
singles and a live EP. Of course, let’s not forget the ‘Soundhouse Tape’ EP, the
precursor to their debut album, and all the many compilations, live and
promotional videos. However, what carved itself most deeply into the fans’
collective memory of the time were his unbeatable, wild and raw
performances, some bordering on incidents, of which Paul Di’Anno had done
over three hundred by the time he left. Looking at the total number of days
he spent in Iron Maiden and the sheer number of concerts, from the worst
holes in London to the grand venues of Europe, the USA and Japan, on
average Paul Di’Anno performed with the band every three days.

There’s no doubt that Paul lived fast and lived wild, since even today, stories
about him showcase these as his most significant characteristics. In the band’s
early years, you would never see him giving less than 100%. He burned out fast
and he spent himself quickly, and sooner or later this had to lead to a breaking
point. Unlike the circumstances of Dennis Stratton’s departure, Paul didn’t have
the feeling of disconnection from the rest of the band, nor did he pretend to a
takeover of primacy during the creative process of writing and recording the
songs. Paul was a ‘right now’ person, someone who lived in the moment,
expending his energy and not sparing himself. Although called ‘the Beast’ for a
reason, Di’Anno was always a good guy, a ‘people’s man’ as they say, always ready
to have fun, or a prank and good company, and everything happening with Iron
Maiden put some wind beneath his wings. His fast living and his inconsistency,
however, which included too much alcohol and opiates, began to alienate him
from the band bit by bit. In spite of their dangerous rocker image, they were still
devoted to hard work and their goal of success that would soon come.

Iron Maiden have tried to present themselves throughout their career as an


atypical rock band – even better, a band that has never tolerated members who
get drunk and consume drugs. You know… Footie, tea and the occasional beer,
fencing, piloting aircraft, fishing. Of course, this was far from the truth. No one
in Iron Maiden was a shy, retiring flower, but they knew how to control
themselves, pull themselves up when necessary, separate messing around from
their work and be professional when necessary – to the max. Both Steve and
Rod liked a drink, sometimes too much, but they never allowed it to interfere
with and destroy their work. Adrian and Dave both had multiple drug and

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alcohol episodes and for a longer period of time than you’d expect, but things
like that were kept well under wraps. Clive Burr ultimately ended up out of the
band because of the drink, and even Nicko hasn’t had the best time with
alcohol, and it was hard for him to get out of it all. Even Bruce Dickinson,
although to hear the stories we’d never imagine he’d done drugs – pilots and
professional fencers aren’t known for their addictions – has said:

“I never got cocaine. I got speed, because it made you run around really fast.
But then it also made you feel absolutely shit. As far as cocaine is concerned,
people get mashed and then sit there with the most stupid gibberish coming
out of their gobs for hours and hours on end. It’s just tedious at best, and at
worst it turns people into paranoid nutcases. So I’ve got no time for cocaine
whatsoever. And obviously anything resembling depressives, I just don’t get. I
don’t get why someone would want to shut reality off. Cos reality is brilliant.”

Drug abuse can seem to those who take them and to those who are watching
from the sidelines like for a moment, or even a period of time there’s
progress, strength, energy, a false picture that makes it seem like the person
has the capacity to keep up and do anything. But this period as a rule gets to
a plateau stage that is followed by a nasty, steep fall that brings with it many
other side effects. We all know the motto ‘sex and drugs and rock’n’roll’ that
seems to suggest like the three are connected and if one of the elements is
missing there’s no good rock and roll lifestyle, but if we look closely, history
has taught us that those who couldn’t keep themselves in check are either six
feet underground since their twenties, or have fallen by the wayside and are
now living on the margins of the music world. Of course, it’s also a matter of
perception, some will justify their hedonistic, excessive enjoyment of all of
the above and call it the true and unadulterated rock and roll lifestyle, or
complete freedom from the influence of the music industry: labels, booking
agents, media, and managers. They’ll emphasise the benefits of the lifestyle
and rave about lucid creativity, not being encumbered by deadlines,
contracts, trends, unlimited freedom to create and express themselves. Of
course, as politically incorrect as this may be in today’s world, numerous
masterpieces of rock, metal and music legacy bear out the idea that there is
some truth in these claims. There are too many performers, albums, songs,
concerts and videos out there to confirm all of the above – but the downside
of this is that for many of them, they’re a flash-in-the-pan big moment,

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followed by a great fall leading to death, sickness or the inability to continue


their work, and unacceptable behaviour that alienated them bit by bit from
the strict rules of the very top of the music business. This is exactly what
happened to Paul Di’Anno. Rumours that the band was planning to invite a
new singer to audition began around the time Kerrang! magazine joined
Maiden for their New York concert and came from some of the band
members themselves. Not Steve Harris, of course, he kept it well hidden).

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Paul was known to party for days on end with no regard for consequences.
Working with Maiden meant a new step up the ladder of stellar success on a
daily basis, and Paul was unable to cope with this. Every band has someone who
works hard to make the success happen, and the singers are usually – due to
the nature of the business – the public face of the band. The media hounds
them, groupies stick to them like burrs, fans and others are always around and
sometimes, unjustified as it is, they are simply swept off their feet, believing
they’re the most important person in the band, that they’re irreplaceable and
that the success will last forever, that they’re unstoppable. Often they’re
wrong, but won’t really listen when anyone tries to warn them, or they don’t
care. When their behaviour crosses a line and the first problems begin, they first
affect their stamina and voice, later culminating in various emotional ups and
downs and they jeopardise the whole project. Asked by Kerrang! if the rumours
were true, Paul replied: “Tell ‘em it’s a load of bollocks. Absolute bollocks.” Steve’s
response was a sarcastic: “As soon as we’re away from home, all these strange
rumours start up, all these funny things about Rod and me having total control.”

In collaboration with Rod Smallwood, Steve Harris is an example of one of the


most dedicated musicians in the history of rock and roll. With his creativity and
visionary musical and stage expression, Steve is such a hard worker that, looking
back on his life and the rise of the band, it’s fascinating to see how much he’s
achieved, what steps he’s taken to drag Iron Maiden to the throne and keep
them there for almost half a century. People like him are regularly dragged
down by the other type, who begrudge them for being unable to relax, for
pandering to the music industry, selling out to labels and merch companies and
flirting with the media, allowing trends to tie their hands and other things that
allegedly kill creativity and spontaneity and freedom and everything that rock
and roll – especially heavy metal – is supposed to be. However, rock and roll
kids who are full of dreams grow up at some point, they marry and have kids,
and have to show some responsibility towards themselves and their families –
and to their fans, who always expect the best from their band: great
performances, great albums, no cancelled tour dates. Sadly, Paul Di’Anno first
didn’t spare himself, but he went on to not sparing those around him.

As the ‘Killers’ tour progressed, they say that Paul Di’Anno was losing his voice
more and more often, leading to a poor live presentation of the band, which
was reflected in poor concert reviews and the dissatisfaction of the fans. Luckily,

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the rest of the band was able to hide the flaws to a point and compensate with
their fierce live performances and teamwork, but this wasn’t a long-term
solution. Was this truly the case, however? I’ve listened to many a bootleg from
the ‘Killers’ tour, and I’m not sure I can find a single instance of a concert where
Paul gave a bad performance, especially towards the end of his touring days.
On the other hand, we know that Steve Harris and Rod Smallwood had had their
eye on Bruce Dickinson for a long time, as he was getting more and more fan
and media attention under the stage name Bruce Bruce that he was using as
the singer for Samson – and his band didn’t know how to use him in the right
way or the right moment. “Now or never,” they must have thought, and I
believe in that moment any of Paul Di’Anno’s flaws must have grown
exponentially in their eyes, however benign they may have been at the time.
Personally, I don’t believe there was any reason for Paul not to continue with
Maiden for another few years at least, since his stamina and performing power
didn’t diminish after leaving the band, but Steve was already imagining Bruce’s
range and the songs they’d create together. He simply no longer saw Paul
Di’Anno as a member of the band, and in accordance with this, Paul’s every
misstep was exaggerated to get him out as soon as possible – right after the end
of the tour. Both Steve and Rod saw Paul’s behaviour as jeopardizing the band’s
further progress, and in discussing Di’Anno’s addictions Steve has said: “If it had
been because he was doing too many gigs I’d have every sympathy. We couldn’t
afford to keep playing gigs where he wasn’t putting in 100 percent, where it was
half-hearted, or worse still, blowing out.”

The story that’s public knowledge about Paul’s leaving or firing from Iron
Maiden is also on Wikipedia: “After cancelling gigs due to Di'Anno's lack of
desire and inability to perform (from cocaine/amphetamine abuse and heavy
drinking), Iron Maiden decided that to progress they would have to find a singer
capable of withstanding the rigours of being on tour. They found a replacement
in former Samson frontman Bruce Dickinson. Di'Anno's last show with the band
was on 10 September 1981 at the Odd Fellow's Mansion in Copenhagen,
Denmark. In 1981, Di'Anno left Iron Maiden after a meeting with the band and
their manager Rod Smallwood. In Di'Anno's words: ‘It's like having Mussolini
and Adolf Hitler run your band. Because it is Rod Smallwood and Steve Harris
and that's it. There can't be anyone else and my character is too strong for that
so me an' Steve was always fighting’. Di'Anno was paid out by Smallwood at the
time of his departure and does not receive royalties on Iron Maiden songs.”

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While everything written stands up to scrutiny, the story is too pat, too
fabricated to have gone quite that way, without many alternate versions and
subversions that significantly change the context and our perception. When I
prepare for writing one of these books, obviously I’ll want to speak personally
to as many of the protagonists as I can – I interviewed Paul for my book about
Steve Harris – but I will also research and read all the interviews that are
available on a particular subject, as well as media articles, especially those
written at the time the events occurred. Everyone’s publishing their
autobiographies these days and in hindsight, when they’ve had plenty of time
to think about these events, the authors write in a manner that later allows
history to be reshaped the way they want it remembered. Since Wikipedia
and similar modern information sources tend to refer to these later books,
completely ignoring the more honest and detailed interviews given at the
time, a new, alternate history is slowly created and when the generations that
lived it are gone, the new kids will find and accept this new version. Iron
Maiden members have made multiple changing statements over the years
about various things, including Paul Di’Anno’s departure, so it’s a thankless
task figuring out which quote to go with, while Paul’s personal reputation with
fans is now such that it’s a question of whether you can believe anything he
says. Although there’s plenty of truth in what he has said through the years
and many would probably want to keep that quiet, he has also come out with
several such outright lies that he has the reputation of an outrageous liar and
no one takes quotes from him that seriously any more. For this reason, it’s
hard to give a real answer to how and why the final split happened, but it’s
possible to take the known facts and create an approximate reconstruction of
sorts. Sometimes, I joke that I’ve become an Iron Maiden forensic analyst.

To digress briefly from the subject, Paul Di’Anno had a further problem,
something English slang calls a ‘big mouth’. In a way, this problem can be
connected to his cocaine consumption, since a similar behaviour pattern can be
observed in many high-profile cocaine users. Di’Anno’s comments from the time
seemed overly brash and even likeable, and there’s no doubt that his attitude
resulted in more affection from fans towards the band, but he sometimes ‘danced
on the edge’ with his comments and this also had a negative effect. An example
was his 1980 statement to journalists that he would blow Judas Priest off the
stage every night, which he made at the start of Priest’s ‘British Steel Tour’ where
Maiden were the opening act. This almost resulted in Iron Maiden being kicked

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off the tour, something that might have forever changed their early career,
especially since this was their first US visit. It was only through the extremely
capable diplomacy of Maiden management that catastrophe was averted, but it
didn’t stop Di’Anno from making similar gaffes. These were little incidents, but
they piled up over a course of several years and alienated him from the other
band members without him even being aware of the fact. Judas Priest singer Rob
Halford mentions his reaction to Paul Di’Anno’s comments and how he planned
revenge in his own autobiography, ‘Confess’: “We didn’t really hang out and
banter with Maiden much on that tour, but maybe I took Di’Anno’s comment that
he would blow Priest off stage too literally … because the one night we got drunk
together, I tried to seduce him! We went to my room to carry on drinking, but I
was too pissed to try anything, and he was too pissed to even know what I wanted
to try. … I think that was definitely for the best.“

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Priest guitarist K.K. Downing had his own comments, too: “I went, ‘What the
hell is this shit? Why should we have Iron Maiden on tour if you’re gonna create
this type of vibe before we’ve even met them, let alone done a show together…
They didn’t blow the bollocks off Judas Priest. We were pretty well-established
at the time, and those guys were coming up through the ranks… But it wasn’t a
good atmosphere on the tour, and it’s not something I like to have happen.”

There were simply too many situations of Paul Di’Anno running off at the
mouth for Iron Maiden to continue tolerating them. Putting it realistically,
Paul Andrews – his real name – is a singer who started out in punk circles and
this was something he never tried to hide. In opposition to Stratton who
wanted to mellow out Iron Maiden’s sound, Paul always wanted to push them
further, make them fiercer, angrier, more raw, wilder, and his whole lifestyle
with his explosive nature, anger, street slang and big mouth attitude were
more the marks of punk rock than what Maiden wanted to become. His very
appearance, whether climbing half naked onto the stage or his street manner
in photos were always pure punk. However, just like Black Sabbath had no
idea that their version of hard rock would become heavy metal, so Maiden
wouldn’t have dreamed that their first two albums – thanks to Paul Di’Anno’s
vocals – would become a blueprint for the genesis of speed and thrash metal
down the line. You’ve probably heard Metallica’s covers of songs like
‘Prowler’, ‘Remember Tomorrow’ or ‘Killers’ at their own arena concerts, and
their rehearsal space while they worked on ‘Master of Puppets’ contained a
giant ‘Killers’ poster on the wall. Members of Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth
have also spoken in superlatives about Iron Maiden’s first two records.

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'Killers' poster in the rehearsal room for Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’,


YouTube screenshot.

Isn’t it odd, then, that Iron Maiden let Di’Anno go so easily, the man who,
whatever his faults, inspired so many musicians and bands while appearing
with them who are now the biggest acts in the world? It wasn’t an easy
decision by any means, as Steve Harris later commented: “We’d done well
with the first two albums. We knew we didn’t have any choice but to make the
change, but you don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

All the songs that made it onto ‘Killers’ were being played from the day
Di’Anno joined Iron Maiden. However, the arrangements and performances
were different, their stage presence was different, as was the demo
production. Harris didn’t like the production result of what they recorded for
the first album but Di’Anno did, and the cover of the debut suggested a more
punk iconography and style. Martin Birch’s arrival changed everything, but he
isn’t the ‘guilty’ party. The band was growing quickly and as Steve Harris said
in the above quoted statement, regardless of the first two albums doing well,

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the band had no choice but to introduce changes, however potentially


dangerous they might be for their future. Paul Di’Anno’s departure could well
have meant the end of the band’s rise, but the challenge of change and what
was in Harris’s DNA the entire time was stronger than all that.

Although Di’Anno has never denied the vices affected the quality of his
performance, or his ability to live up to expectations, he saw the root cause of
the problem, and therefore his own drinking and drug abuse, elsewhere.
Speaking to Rock de Acá in 2013, he said: “I left Iron Maiden because they were
going too heavy metal, and Iron Maiden is a money-making machine, and I
don’t give a fuck about it. It was not about drugs. It was nothing like that, but
you need to take drugs when you’re with Iron Maiden because they’re so fucking
boring. And the only drugs were aspirin, because Steve – fuckin’ headache!”

Then again, he’s also said this: “It’s no secret, I was pretty out of control on that tour.
It wasn’t just that I was snorting a bit of coke, though – I was just going for it non-
stop, 24 hours a day. I thought that was what you’re supposed to do when you
were in a big, successful rock band.” Do I have to mention that in his interview for
Iron Maiden’s official 2004 DVD ‘The Early Days’ he confirmed that his overuse of
drugs and alcohol led to his firing from the band, one of the many contradicting
statements what make us go back time and again to the original question: what’s
the real truth? On multiple other occasions, Di’Anno mentioned his exhaustion
from Maiden’s crowded schedule and the everyday routine that had become
tedious. “I’d had a bellyful, I didn’t get into rock’n’roll to keep to schedules and have
meetings and make sure I get my eight hours’ beauty sleep every night,” he said
to Metal Thunder, and also touched on the authorship problem in the band:
“Steve had most of the words and the lyrics all written. That was some of the bones
of contention that we had in the band — that I didn't get to write as much as I
wanted to. 'Cause I am actually quite a prolific writer, but a lot of my songs were not
accepted. 'Cause it's Steve's band, obviously. I’m telling you. Iron Maiden is Steve
Harris’ band... and all it is, is money, money, money, money – nobody else counts.”

On the one hand, it’s not hard to understand Paul Di’Anno and identify with
some of what he says, but what Maiden have grown into and the music they’ve
made through the decades does point to their probably ultimately making the
right decision all those years ago. Also, regardless of the ‘Maiden money making
machine’ complaints, calling them and their music post-‘Killers’ boring, Di’Anno

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spent many years post-Maiden performing concerts where many of the fans
demanded to hear those very songs, so his words lose a bit of their weight in
that sense. And while we’ll never really know what would have happened had
Paul remained in Iron Maiden, Harris tried for a diplomatic answer in an
interview all the way back in 1981: “The first two albums were the songs that
were written over the four-year period before we were signed. I think it's
probably more down to the songs than Paul's voice, really. I thought Paul had a
really good voice, but there's no way we could have carried on with Paul because
he didn't want to do touring and that anyway. We had to make a change. If we
didn't make a change, I think maybe the band would have split up or something.
I don't think that Maiden would still be here if we'd have stayed with Paul.“

I’ve already written about the story (as we have been told it) of the Reading
Festival and how Bruce Dickinson came to Iron Maiden in my book 'The Number
of the Beast', but to more easily follow the timeline of events, I’m copying a few
sentences from Bruce’s autobiography ‘What Does This Button Do’: “I was in a
corner of a beer tent when Rod Smallwood approached me, saying, ‘Let’s go
somewhere quiet where we can talk.’ We walked out and stood, illuminated
for all the world to see, under the pole in the middle of the backstage area. I

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felt sure he was working up to something. ‘Do you want to come back to my
room for a chat?’ he said. I felt sure he didn’t have any etchings for me to see.
Reading Holiday Inn became a low-ceilinged rabbit warren of debauchery for
a week around the festival if, of course, you could get a burrow. Back in the
room, away from prying eyes, Rod laid out his cards. ‘I’m offering you the
chance to audition for Iron Maiden,’ he said. ‘Are you interested?’ There had
been enough beating around bushes and tap-dancing around issues, I decided,
so I told him what I thought: ‘First of all, you know I’ll get the job or you
wouldn’t ask. Second, what’s gonna happen to Paul, the current singer, and
does he know he’s going? Third, when I do get the job, and I will, are you
prepared for a totally different style and opinions and someone who is not
going to roll over? I may be a pain in the arse, but it’s for all the right reasons.
If you don’t want that tell me now and I’ll walk away’.”

Bruce comes off as ‘the man’ here, the guy who coolly recited his terms for
joining the band to Rod. Since we’ve STILL not heard Rod’s version, let’s say
everything in the story happened exactly as above and put it all into
perspective. There were not as many hotels close to the Reading Festival then
as there are today. There was no online booking or anything else to simplify
the process. To get a room at the Holiday Inn on the day of the festival, it had
to have been booked well in advance. Since Rod was on tour with Maiden, he
had to leave them in France at the end of August to make it to Reading. What
follows is that the neither the decision to let Paul go nor to court Bruce
Dickinson at Reading were made in France or just before the festival. It was a
well thought out heist, where they planned in detail when and where to
approach Bruce without being conspicuous, and catching the Samson concert
a couple of hours earlier to see how the singer performs in front of a crowd
that big. The mission thus accomplished, Paul was the ‘former frontman’ from
that moment on, and if we’re judging Dickinson’s words, the question ‘what
happens to Paul’ was asked as a courtesy, since Bruce was stepping into his
shoes while he didn’t even know his days were numbered.

Iron Maiden’s concert in Orange, France, on one of the most beautiful stages
they’ve ever been on at the Théatre Antique, was supposed to be the final,
triumphant gig of the ‘Killers’ tour that Maiden weren’t headlining. That
honour went to Trust, who were celebrating the band’s fourth anniversary.

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As I’ve mentioned, the atmosphere was more relaxed and Paul and Dave
climbed the stage with the members of Rose Tattoo and joined Trust for an
impromptu jam session, celebrating their anniversary and the successful end of
the regular part of the ‘Killers World Tour’. A pyrrhic victory, some might say.

Théatre Antique – the beautiful stage in Orange, France.

The final four Paul-fronted concerts were Yugoslavia – almost an accidental


addition as I’ve written – and three rescheduled dates that were moved to
September: two in Sweden and one in Denmark. A little symbolically, the
name of the venue where Paul Di’Anno sang his last with Iron Maiden was
‘Odd Fellow’. A weird farewell in weird circumstances, with a probably
misunderstood weirdo whose voice, energy and presence immeasurably
influenced the development of heavy and thrash metal.

Even Di’Anno praised Maiden’s choice of replacement for him, saying he


thought that Bruce was absolutely the best singer the band ever had,
while Dickinson commented the suggestion to complete Di’Anno’s
Scandinavian tour: “The niceties of filling a dead man’s shoes did not sit
comfortably with me.”

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The whole situation with Di’Anno’s departure showed that the seeds of
destruction were sown before anyone could have noticed, but the stakes
were high and Iron Maiden didn’t have the courage to break off from their
singer before securing a definite replacement. Nothing strange – it was a
pattern they showed again in all subsequent instances of someone leaving, as
well as when Dickinson returned in 1999. When Di’Anno left, Rod Smallwood
offered to pay him a lump sum for any copyrights, which he accepted.

Bruce Dickinson had to wait a little less than a month after being officially
inducted into the band to make his live debut as Iron Maiden’s new singer.
The honour of hosting this event fell to Italy: Bologna, Rome, Florence, Padua,
Milan, from October 26-29, Monday to Friday, so pretty unusual days. If we
take into account that Bruce would have had about 15 days to rehearse these
performances with the band (if the story of when Rod recruited him is true),
the number of songs played at that first concert is quite intimidating –
seventeen in total: ‘Sanctuary’, ‘Purgatory’, ‘Wrathchild’, ‘Twilight Zone’,
‘Remember Tomorrow’, ‘Genghis Khan’, ‘Killers’, ‘Another Life’, ‘Innocent
Exile’, ‘Running Free’, ‘Murders In The Rue Morgue’, ‘Phantom Of The Opera’,
‘Iron Maiden’, ‘Transylvania’, ‘Drifter’, ‘Prowler’, ‘I’ve Got The Fire’. As there’s
a recording of this debut that was luckily preserved, Maiden fans have a
unique opportunity to hear one of the most explosive live premieres ever on
YouTube, including a series of songs from the first two albums that Bruce
would never perform live again.

That first night, Maiden were called back to the stage for a total of three
encores, quite enough for them to swap satisfied glances and conclude that
this line-up change was the right move. The tour ended six weeks later with
two London concerts. The first took place at the Rainbow Theatre, while the
second was a ‘secret show’ at the well-known Ruskin Arms, where Iron
Maiden incidentally celebrated Dave Murray’s birthday on 23/12/1981. As
I’ve already mentioned, as early as these gigs the band were performing songs
from their upcoming album 'The Number of the Beast', meaning the lads
weren’t wasting any time. In many ways a strange and special tour, the ‘Killers
World Tour’ didn’t simply close one long chapter of the band’s history but
opened a new one, which would last much longer.

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GOLDEN YEARS OF MERCH

It is definitely impossible to count all the merchandise with the ‘Killers’ theme.
Usually it shows the entire album cover or only Eddie’s figure, but lately there’s
been a lot of stuff featuring only Eddie’s arm and the famous axe, as you can see
on the left hand page. The ‘Killers’ iconography can be found in the most unusual
of places, such as stores owned by fashion clothing giant ‘Replay’ – with Eddie’s
hand holding a rose instead of an axe.‘Killers’ t-shirts are prevalent among
celebrities who want to be noticed and trendy, even if they don’t actually listen
to Iron Maiden – you can see a series of their photos on the following page. And
‘Replay’ certainly aren’t the first to think of replacing Eddie’s axe, there have been
some pretty interesting and funny attempts. An ironing company named ‘Iron
Maidens – Ironing and Laundry Services’ has Eddie with an iron as their official
logo, while the photo below shows a company named ‘Robbo’s’, painters and
decorators whose Eddie holds a paintbrush. All this tells us a lot about the
influence the ‘Killers’ visual had on the world – it may not be the richest
illustration, too much detail and intriguing Easter eggs, but it’s most definitely
right up there with ‘The Trooper’ as the most prolific incarnation of Eddie.

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In all my books, I’ve always attempted to explain the unbreakable connection


between Iron Maiden’s music, their live performances and the iconography
that comes with them. I’ve analysed every period, the importance of Eddie as
their mascot, and the band’s merch as one of the biggest sources of their total
income. I’ve discussed conceptual determinants and tracked Eddie’s
development, whether from the artists’ point of view, or from the band’s and
their management, concluding that Eddie’s influence on fans (and on their
even becoming fans) and rock music in general is such that I would have to
devote an entire book to that topic alone. Posters, shirts, patches, jackets,
scarves, flags and anything that can be printed on have changed hundreds of
lives. Look in a mirror: it is indisputable that Iron Maiden have completely
changed my life, my concept of life, their songs have shaped my interests in
certain themes covered in their lyrics and their cover art. I enjoyed certain
subjects in school more because of their lyrics, I read a series of books that
aren’t exactly compulsory reading for school and which I might have passed
on in some parallel, un-Maiden life. The same goes for movies and many other
things. Iron Maiden figure in my choices of friends, girlfriends, business
associates and almost my whole world. Hell, Iron Maiden were even on the
playlist at my wedding, and I met my best man at one of their concerts –
where else. I’m pretty certain they’ll be played at my funeral someday. Just
imagine – this is a single life on this planet – but hundreds of millions of fans
own Iron Maiden albums and merch, as many have attended their concerts,
and maybe not all of us, but many of us share a similar story. Imagine, then,
how Iron Maiden have changed the world and shaped it.

Do you recognise the people in these photos? David Beckham, Lady Gaga,
Miley Cyrus, Drew Barrymore… the list goes on. In earlier years, I had a hobby
of sorts, collecting photos of celebrities in Iron Maiden shorts, and believe me
when I say I found hundreds. However, I also found hundreds of new articles
where journalists attacked these people for ‘wearing shirts of bands they
know nothing about’, and there were frequent online discussions between
embittered fans throwing hate at them. But how justified were they, and how
much right do we have – as fans – to argue about ‘who’s the biggest fan’? For
example, Steve Harris has often emphasised the influence of bands like Jethro
Tull and Genesis. Do Iron Maiden have to sound like these bands or can they
have their own sound? Of course they don’t. Dave Murray doesn’t sound like
Jimi Hendrix, but he has a great deal of respect for him, without a doubt. So

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let’s ask ourselves now, does Lady Gaga have to sound like Iron Maiden? No,
why should she? Is Miley Cyrus an Iron Maiden fan? You might claim that she
isn’t, she categorically states that she is, so let’s ask – why would she pretend?
She has her own enormous fan base, earnings that Maiden can only dream
of, and they’re not particularly important to her life or career as a way to earn
more money based on sentiment and nostalgia. Technically, it’s much easier
to find people who emphasise downplaying Iron Maiden as an influence –
even within the metal world – than those who would falsely claim //to believe
they’re an important act. On 17/04/2011, Lady Gaga attended an Iron Maiden
concert in Tampa, Florida, even using the opportunity to meet Nicko and
Bruce, the photos made all the media. Later, one of her statements made the
rounds: “I always used to say to people when they would say 'Oh, she is next
Madonna': 'No, I'm the next Iron Maiden.” The Iron Maiden fan community
took this with a lot of reserve, as well as her jubilee 666th tweet just six days
after her concert, when she wrote: “The Number of the Beast. Having beers
listening to Iron Maiden w the Ney York Boys. Happy 666 Twiterland.” Since
then, she has been seen in Maiden shirts many a time, so often that she
caught the eye of Rolling Stone magazine, telling them;

“I went to see Iron Maiden the other night, and I actually watched the show
from a box. And we were laughing as we walked. It was me and my two best
friends as we were walking into the box, we had a bunch of drinks, we were
all going, 'This is so not metal, to be in a box.' [Laughs] So we watched most
of the show from the box and then we were gonna go meet the band. And we
went down during 'The Number of the Beast'. And when we got there, I
grabbed Lady Starlight and I said, 'Let's go,' and we just booked it into the
center of the crowd. And we were dancing and singing and everyone was just
so into it. And it was one of the first times I've been able to just be at a rock
concert in a long time… People did recognize me, but it was so kind and warm
and awesome. I mean, Iron Maiden is all about, 'We don't care who our fans
are. We love everybody.' I guess what I'm trying to say is the devotion of the
fans moving in unison, pumping their fists, watching the show, when I see
that, I see the paradigm for my future and the relationship I want to have with
my fans. Iron Maiden's never had a hit song, and they tour stadiums around
the world, and their fans live, breathe and die for MAIDEN, and that is my
dream. That is my dream. And not only that, but when we got into the crowd,
there was no pretension I'm a pop singer I didn't know what it would be like

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in a crowd of Maiden [fans]; everybody was hugging me, high-fiving, fist


pumps in the air 'Oh, it's so cool you're at Maiden.' Jumping and dancing I
mean, it was like absolute no judgment, no prejudice, freedom and love for
music. It doesn't matter who you are; you don't need to know anything about
music to love it. And it was just so It was just awesome Maiden changed my
life.”

Since then, Gaga has tweeted content like this multiple times, tagging the
band: “I wore my own personal Iron Maiden 'Number of the Beast' tee-shirt
on a major fashion cover. I'm so proud to be a fan. 666.”

I write all this to urge you – and myself – to think again about how we ‘puritan’
fans look upon this ‘exploitation’ of Maiden. At the very start of this book, we
learned that David Beckham was practically born within a couple of hundred
metres from the birthplaces of Steve Harris, Clive Burr, and other band
members, so I feel justified in asking: why couldn’t he be an Iron Maiden fan,
if not permanently then at least for a period in his life? Why should his millions
in the bank, his status as a fashion and sports icon, his pop star wife, anything,
preclude him from being a fan? Drew Barrymore has often talked about
Maiden as her great musical love, and through the years we’ve seen the same
from statesmen, lords, famous lawyers, top bankers – in short, people we
never would have pegged as Maiden fans at first glance. Does this give us the
right to immediately discredit them – when the biggest fan of my books is a
world class level lawyer from France (you know who you are)?

In researching this subject, I almost completely agreed with an excellent essay


named ‘Lifelong Dirtbag – the Eternal Importance of Iron Maiden’, written by
Michael Nelson for www.stereogum.com. In a pretty long review that might
take you a good half hour to read and check out the various links, he mentions
among other things Miley Cyrus’s intense reaction when people accused her
of wearing Maiden shirts as a fashion statement rather than as a fan – sending
a clear message that they knew neither her nor her life, and that she likes Iron
Maiden and recommends them to her fans.

Nelson wrote: “Of course, I know how it feels to be on the other side of that
exchange, too. Metal means something, and it’s absolutely disgusting when
metal is soullessly co-opted for fashion. It happens a lot, and it’s infuriating.

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That said, I’m generally unconvinced by any accusations of inauthenticity or


poseurism when talking about Iron Maiden in particular, primarily because:
Who has to fucking lie about liking Iron Maiden? Who has to pretend to like
Iron Maiden? We’re not talking about, like, Scott Walker or Ornette Coleman
here: Iron Maiden write dynamic, exciting, Broadway-catchy bombast-
anthems with face-scalding solos (intended to result in virtuosic air-guitar/-
bass performances from the listener) and Star Wars-sized choruses (intended
to inspire 80,000 people in South American soccer stadiums to sing along at
full volume). Honestly, I’d imagine more people pretend to not like Iron
Maiden than the reverse. But there’s something else, too – something the
gatekeepers surely recognize but refuse to acknowledge. And that is: Wearing
a Maiden T-shirt is actually a pretty huge part of being a Maiden fan. That’s,
like, one of the first steps. That’s how we communicate, how we identify one
another among strangers. That’s how the legacy is passed down. Again: That
is how I discovered Iron Maiden. I saw older kids wearing those T-shirts, and
I was drawn in. And, look, I don’t know if that guy from 5 Seconds Of Summer
knows every lyric to 'Die With Your Boots On', but I’d be pretty surprised if he
hadn’t genuinely fallen in love with Maiden at some point on his path from
puberty to professional musician. But even if that’s not the case - even if he’s
a truly vile, burn-him-at-the-stake poseur - I bet he’s inspired a few thousand
13-year-olds to seek out Iron Maiden, and I bet a decent percentage of those
13-year-olds will be Iron Maiden fans for the rest of their lives. Think about
this: The Maiden shirt Miley was wearing when she got grilled by purists? That
shirt belonged to her older brother, Trace; he was the person responsible for
introducing his little sister to the band. And isn’t that how the legacy is passed
down, too?”

He rightly concludes: “So that stuff doesn’t bother me. I get it. Man, it doesn’t
even bother me when Trace Cyrus puts his goddamn dog in an Iron Maiden
shirt. It doesn’t bother me when I see a Maiden shirt on David Beckham, or
Hilary Duff, or Justin Bieber, or Kelly Rowland, or Lindsay Lohan, or Juicy J, or
Michael Fassbender, or Amy Poehler… I’m not saying they’re all Maiden
superfans, but I’m also not so sure that they don’t love Maiden, or that they
didn’t once love Maiden. They all went to school, they were all teenagers —
maybe teenage dirtbags, maybe not. In any case, they’re passing down the
legacy. They’re spreading the gospel. If it bothers you? I get that, too. They’re
celebrities; fuck celebrities. But Gaga is right about this: ‘It doesn’t matter

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who you are; you don’t need to know anything about music to love it.’ Of
course, you have to find music. Music has to find you. Fuck celebrities, sure,
but you gotta recognize: This is how we – real people in the real world – find
each other.

“'There are countless different Iron Maiden T-shirt designs, but almost all of
them feature the band’s mascot, easily the most recognizable such icon in
rock history: Eddie. Eddie the Head. Ed Hunter. Eddie has his own lengthy
mythology; his own video game. Eddie isn’t just a symbol of Iron Maiden; he’s
an integral part of the band. Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson once said of
Eddie: ‘He’s the most outrageous and the biggest rock star there’s ever been.
And it’s great because we don’t have to be [rock stars]. We can just
concentrate on doing what we do’.”

Bruce Dickinson isn’t known as someone who kisses ass. Moreover, recall how
his war with Ozzy started – or better said, with Sharon Osbourne, how he blew
off the Glastonbury Festival and the idea of any future collaboration with
them, and how ‘warmly’ he expressed himself about the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, who have chosen this very year 2021 to finally nominate Iron Maiden,
among others. Why would he have any reason for restraint when speaking of
Lady Gaga – if Maiden haven’t needed her so far, they certainly never will.
Here’s what Bruce had to say about her to Corus Radio:

“I think she's great, and I agree with her: she's not the next Madonna. She's
way better than that. First of all, she can sing – she's got a belter of a voice –
[and] she's a really good instrumentalist. And she's got a great sense of drama.
And anybody that could turn up to an awards ceremony dressed as a bacon
sandwich gets my vote. I mean, she's great.”

This story doesn’t technically fit the ‘merch template’ I’ve developed in my
previous books, I think it’s important to have the discussion. Most of us saw
the Iron Maiden logo and Eddie first, then heard their music, and while the
band emphasises the music as the first and main tool of fan initiation, it’s clear
that the visuals alerted us to their world. And if ‘celebrities’ gave someone a
push, I fail to see a problem.

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Taking a cue from Gaga’s live Maiden experience, Bruce’s response to the
question of what they actually have to offer their fans, and what they can’t
offer, was pretty grounded: “We've tried not to let them down. That's all you
can do is try, 'cause obviously you can't please everyone all the time. And the
way we do that is by not letting ourselves down. I think fans, certainly our
fans, accept that they're always going to be on a bit of a journey with you, and
they're perfectly at liberty to get off the bus if they don't like the way it's
going, and rejoin it at some later date. But if you stay with it, at least there's
a degree of integrity with what you're doing... It's always been about music
and connecting with people live. It's about making real connections, not
having a billion followers on Twitter, you know?

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I’m sure there’s a possibility that some readers are pretty irritated by this topic
right now, because there are multiple differing opinions about it, and it’s
important to talk about it. Everyone enters their various fandoms via something
– or someone. For example, many people began following West Ham United FC
and became fans not because of their stellar results, but because Iron Maiden
themselves are fans. How many people first picked up Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’
or Aldous Huxley’s 'Brave New World'? How many noticed the ‘Asimov
Foundation’ sign on the ‘Somewhere in Time’ cover and decided to find out
what it was about? Huxley went so far as to reject the idea of Iron Maiden
writing a song based on his work with disgust, much like the manner in which
Gary Holt of Exodus and Slayer slammed Kendall Jenner – a reality show star
and model – for wearing a Slayer shirt. At some concerts he even brought a sign
on stage that read ‘Kill the Kardashians’, something that was widely reported
by the world’s media, although it was speculated that Slayer earned an
additional 10 million dollars in merch sales thanks to this unexpected
endorsement by a Kardashian. The band’s management denied this and explain
the sales boost as the result of the band’s announcement of a farewell tour. An
old and experienced hand, Kerry King lost no sleep over this, telling BC Rich in
an interview “It’s becoming a lifestyle that is bigger than Slayer.”

Although the title of this chapter is ‘Golden Years of Merch’, as the book’s
author I feel justified in asking ‘aren’t the very years of this book’s writing in
fact the golden years’? They probably are, considering the quantity and
variety of both official and licenced products available today, not to mention
their pricing and global reach. However, 1981 was in many things a fateful
year for Iron Maiden, in which they finally confirmed that there was no way
forward without Eddie. Punk Eddie on the first album cover may have been a
concept of sorts, connecting the singles, the cover art, their live setup and not
particularly varied merchandise, but as soon as they dared to move Eddie to
new sneak peek illustrations, singles etc, they leapt into a world without end.
Mind you, initial focus was on smaller and cheaper pieces of memorabilia, like
badges, patches, lighters, stickers and pins, postcards, little model guitars
etc., while the shirts came in a significantly bigger range and variety than for
the previous album. Generally, they were so well accepted by fans that the
offer was quite expanded with their very next record. Today, it’s difficult to
separate the originals from the bootleg products.

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The next few pages are but a small overview of this ‘small’ merch, photos
kindly provided to me by multiple fans, none more than Alexander Yakovlev
whose collection of lighters, patches, pins and much else is truly impressive.
His knowledge in telling apart original memorabilia and pirated pieces is
immeasurable. It’s interesting to note that many fans believe that pirated and
unauthorised copies are the product of a new time and a new millennium,
coupled with Maiden’s increasing popularity and the ease with which design
and printing are accessible, but you’d be surprised to learn how many
unofficial pieces were in distribution even in the early 1980s. On this page,
you can see multiple different ‘Killers’ lighters, while the next is a collection
of pins, badges and other metal memorabilia. What follows is a list of scarves,
stickers, phone cards etc. Considering that these are put together from
multiple photographs, they’re not necessarily coordinated by proportion, and
it was necessary for this to be a shortened overview and a selection.

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In addition to the memorabilia included here – and I selected only a


fraction of what has been on the market all these years, ‘Killers’ merch
also featured several types of wallets, air fresheners, Frisbees,
skateboards, bandannas, mouse pads, action figures, masks and so on. In
an era when Maiden visuals are licenced out without criteria, it’s hard to
find an official number of ‘Killers’ products available, which is why this
overview is short.

For this reason, several books are in the making and will soon be available –
written by some of my colleagues and fellow Iron Maiden fans, they deal with
the history of Maiden memorabilia in all its aspects, to the minutest of details.
When the time comes, I’ll certainly help you hear of them.

The ‘Killers’ era brought is more than 50 patches, but keep in mind that they
feature at most ten different motifs, different only in the shades and colours
of the material and the embroidered edges. Although the photos in this book
are in grayscale, you can still see the differences on them here and on the
next page.

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For example, these Maiden Japan patches featured black, gold and red edging,
while the edges of the ‘Twilight Zone’ coffin-shaped patches were red, grey and
black. While the following page also gives you a chance to see some interesting
patch examples, I warmly recommend Alex Yakovlev as your guide.

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Three kinds of ‘Killers’ sneakers are available, one of those produced by EMP
for their Signature Collection high sneakers’ released in 2018 as a unisex
product. Two versions are available, with red or black laces.

Then there are limited edition Vans, available both as high top and low
sneakers since 2007 and still in great demand.

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Mint condition examples can reach prices of over 300 Euros on various
auction sites. The previous page shows the Vans Slip-ons, while this page
features 'Vans Iron Maiden, Killers High Top Sneakers' – skater shoes with the
following specs: Canvas upper; Lace-up front textile lining with cushioned
insole; textured rubber outsole; 'Killers' graphic; 'Killers' tongue badge. A
smaller run of white Vans Slip-ons was also produced, they’re very hard to
find today and fetch a higher sale price.

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For collectors who were quick and ordered six ‘Soundhouse Tapes’ CDs at the turn
of the millennium, they were given an ‘Eddie Coin sticker’ inspired by ‘Killers’ Eddie.

Also, although I try not to put various editions of records in the merch chapters,
some of which are extremely expensive and rare, such as the 'Twilight Zone'
brown vinyl that I wrote about earlier, this German promo edition of vinyl (that
comes with the tour magazine) has as a special feature of Eddie’s 3D pop-out on
the cover. There are two editions of this rare memorabilia, and here you can make
a comparison of the differences. Thanks to Rasmus Stavnsborg for the photos.

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The ‘Killers’ era also saw the release of the first edition of the legendary Fan
Club magazine, a great rarity on today’s market and very expensive. There are
two versions of the magazine: the ‘North American and International edition’
with the Maiden Japan visual, and the ‘International’ edition featuring the
cover art from the ‘Purgatory’ single. Generally, members received the
magazine together with a black and white membership card with a drawing
of ‘Killers’ Eddie, and a simple badge saying ‘Iron Maiden FC’.

The first edition of the US Iron Maiden Fan Club magazine came out
somewhat later than the international edition. It contains an excellent
interview with Bruce Dickinson, who had replaced Paul Di’Anno in the
meantime. In the interview, Bruce explains how he joined the band and talks
about the early stages of recording 'The Number of the Beast'. The
international edition was printed on 07/08/1981. This 20-page magazine
contains: photos of the band, a letter from Rod Smallwood and postcards
from Japan, Adrian Smith’s Japan tour report, Canadian gig reviews, video
news, band questions and answers, discography Merchandise, and a Holland
gig review. There are plenty of fakes out there today, so you’d need to be
careful when buying.

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On the subject of Maiden shirts, Matthew Ward is an absolute great. I’ve


often mentioned him in my books because, despite his enormous collection,
he’s incredibly humble, while at the same time full of knowledge and able to
spot the tiniest details and recognise the fakes, which have become more and
more similar to the originals in recent years, partly due to rising prices of
vintage shirts. Even the Maiden camp have admitted to leading a war against
disloyal competition from bootleggers, and how it’s unfortunately very
difficult to stop them. For this reason, I would appeal for the band to employ
someone like Matthew, the perfect person to explain the difference between
an original shirt and a fake, how to tell them apart and how not to fall for the
tempting offers on eBay and other sites. He could protect you from those who
would get rich through the sales of merch by telling you the true, realistic
price of any shirt… There are a number of shirt collectors who are mutually
connected and happy to help any fan.

For the following five pages, I’ve selected only some of those in existence, and
while some may look similar at first glance, each is different in some small
detail. You’ll notice that in the early phase of their merchandising, Iron
Maiden weren’t actively thinking about ‘event shirts’ and they’re missing
here, but if anything can be called a precursor to tour shirts, it’s the Maiden
Japan range with the Japanese script and ‘Maiden Japan’ on the back of the
shirt. Even then, the range consisted of sweatshirts, t-shirts, sleeveless and
girlie shirts, button down work shirts and white vintage shirts with coloured
sleeves (black, red, orange, green and yellow).

On certain shirts, the back features the ‘Iron Maiden’ album visual, as well as
an image of Eddie sticking a Union Jack flag into planet Earth, which would go
on to be used on the following album 'The Number of the Beast'. It’s
noticeable that there are no shirts of the ‘Twilight Zone’ visual, only
‘Purgatory’, the ‘Maiden Japan’ EP and variations on ‘Killers’, these would
later appear as overprint shirts and other options. All this happened after the
‘Killers’ cover became iconic and jump started the golden era of Maiden
merch. Ward’s list contains around forty original ‘Killers’ shirts, the rest being
countless copies numbering several hundred versions today.

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As I noted earlier, ‘Killers’ merch is a lot more current today than it was
originally. Fans today can find almost anything their heart desires, licenced to
show the ‘Killers’ visual. We can see some of the more interesting
memorabilia here:

500-piece puzzles don’t exclusively carry just the ‘Killers’ print, there are other
Maiden motifs to be found. The same is true of the famous ‘POP Rocks’ figurines,
which are available in several other editions in addition to a ‘Killers’ Eddie.

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One of the more interesting and exceptionally well executed licenced


products is the O’Neal Rockhard Iron Maiden Limited Edition Motocross
Helmet. This MX helmet features exclusive graphics, the helmet is produced
in limited quantity with each helmet certified and numbered and with its own
matching Certificate of Authenticity. Features Include: Advanced composite
fiberglass / Kevlar / carbon / Spectra core; lend of materials creates a strong,
light, energy-absorbent, and impact-resistant design; multiple adjustable
vents for customizable airflow; hell's design creates a vacuum effect, drawing
hot air away from the head; clear 2mm molded Polycarbonate Uni-Curve flat
race face shield for outstanding optical clarity; removable, washable liner for
ease of cleaning and care… The helmet sold out very quickly and a well
maintained high quality item can be found averaging 120 Euros on several
auction sites.

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As I’ve written in past books, as a globally recognisable brand even outside of


metal, Iron Maiden couldn’t resist the globalist-capitalist drive to licence their
product to big name merchandisers and chains. It is quite clear today that
Maiden are a band and a brand intent on being present wherever there is
interest. While Iron Maiden have a long standing tradition of sending out
specific Christmas cards with inescapable jokes and puns, they weren’t the
first to come up with the ‘Ugly Christmas Sweater’. Over the years, many
bands like Slayer, Slipknot, Motörhead and others have released their
versions, so Iron Maiden joined in on the fun. The ‘Middle of Beyond’ crew
did their best to make the sweater truly ugly.

In an era when cult products like Star Wars can be found in the most
unexpected of places, when as recently as ten years ago we might have even
considered this a desecration of sorts, Iron Maiden fans have been unsure of
how they feel about the ever greater expansion of everything Maiden visible
almost everywhere. Today, I can hardly visit a modern shopping centre
without seeing something Maiden in stores like Zara, Bershka, H&M –
something that would have been considered blasphemous in the past and left
to bands like KISS and Metallica. However, times change, and the ongoing
COVID-19 situation has only sped up the transition and the sale of licences to
anyone at all has become a legitimate act. We ain’t seen nothin’ yet – it’s in
the coming years that we can expect the Maiden visuals to be everywhere,
causing quite a headache for serious collectors.

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A cursory and relatively brief online search came up with more than three
hundred different original and licenced ‘Killers’ items, from shirts and scarves
to patches, jackets, badges, sneakers and everything you have seen in this
brief overview. It’s enough to make us realize the sheer massive scope of Iron
Maiden sales based on just one of hundreds of available visuals. As fans, we
should be pretty proud of the giants we have created.

To close this chapter, I leave you with a very ordinary bit of memorabilia, a
standard piece of inventory in any better music shop and a permanent item
in the Iron Maiden webshop. The ‘Killers’ mug. This ordinary item is tied to a
very special life story of mine. My wife and I started dating in early 2012, and
in the first days of our relationship, our paths separated for a weekend: she
went to a gothic rock festival in Hungary with some friends, while I stayed in
Croatia to organise the local battle of the bands for the Bloodstock UK festival.
As we were in very early stages of our relationship and it was her first time
abroad since then, she wanted to bring me a souvenir. It was unavoidable –
she got me a ‘Killers’ mug. However, just after she bought it, it fell from her
hand and broke into many pieces. As she was on her way home to Croatia,
replacing it was out of the question, so the only option left to her was to pick
up the pieces and somehow superglue it back together, which she managed
to do. Not only are no cracks visible on the mug, it doesn’t leak anywhere
when filled with liquid. Nonetheless, our cat drinks from the mug today, but
it remains my favourite gift because it is a symbol of such love, sacrifice and
the willingness to fix something broken, seemingly impossible. And she did it.
While the mug doesn’t have much value as a collectible, to me it’s priceless.

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KILLER KREW
The ‘Killer Krew’ is certainly another trademark Iron Maiden ‘product’ – a group
of people whose work, professionalism and ability to learn on the job led to
Maiden becoming one of the biggest bands of all time, a music industry
institution at the forefront of every segment of the business. We’re not just
talking about excellent songs and explosive live performances. Every band that
can be considered to be among the greatest ever must have well-oiled cogs on
a behemoth machine. We’re talking about music production, the PR team,
designers, management, merchandise operators, top label ‘players’, excellent
bookers, personal photographers, and mostly those people who live with the
band day and night while on tour, making sure every day is as perfect as possible
regardless of what conditions they encounter along the way. I’ve had the
opportunity to tour with a band as their manager, they even had the chance to
be Iron Maiden’s special guests, and I can fully understand the level of
enthusiasm and love required to do this job, a job no one can be paid enough
for if you really see what a road crew member goes through. When we talk of
the ‘Killer Krew’, the people whose shoulders Iron Maiden’s success stands on,
the responsibility and intensity of their tasks is multiplied. In the earliest days,
they all maniacally believed in Iron Maiden’s great success, seeing their
incredible rise first-hand, gaining their own strength and willpower to make it
happen in the process. It’s confirmed in a cute story from Barry Purkis of
Thunderstick, where he illustrates how impressed Rod Smallwood was with this
young up-and-coming band and how much he believed in them from the start.

“When Doug Sampson left around Christmas, after we'd finished the Metal
Crusade tour with Iron Maiden supporting, and we were just about to go in and
record ‘Head On’ with Samson, two days before Christmas Eve Steve Harris
asked me if I wanted to re-join the band. I spent my whole Christmas
deliberating Thunderstick and Samson, or Barry Purkis, Barry Graham, whatever
you want, in Iron Maiden. What do I do? And I went and played with them the
day after Boxing day and Rod Smallwood sat there and we were just about to
do 'Running Free' and there was Dennis Stratton there and I remember Rod
sitting there and saying to me ‘This band's gonna be bigger than Led Zeppelin’.
I thought ‘it's really nice to be able to believe in your band to that extent’, but at

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that time, you know, ‘Bigger than Zeppelin???’ Here we are 2005 and he's
probably right. But, you know, that was it, we sat down and we played…”

So can we give the ‘Killer Krew’ a good deal of the credit for Iron Maiden’s
success, or should we consider them paid jobsworths like any other road crew
in the music business? More specifically, would the band’s success be the
same if they did what most other bands do and hired a different crew of
whoever was available, people who know their job but aren’t directly
connected to the band? My answer to this question simply has to be in the
negative. No, they wouldn’t! They were a great band, they had self-
confidence, excellent songs, a small but loyal fanbase, but the ball wouldn’t
have rolled in quite the same way without the people around them. And
despite not being members of the crew, we cannot go without mentioning
important people like Ross Halfin and Neal Kay, who knew where to push the
band forward at key moments. However, Iron Maiden wouldn’t be nearly the
band we know today if the people at their side hadn’t been Rod Smallwood,
Doug Hall, Dave Lights, Keith Wilfort and the rest of the ‘Killer Krew’ – feel
free to name the others – who are known to almost all the fans by name and
who spent literal decades with the band.

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It’s an almost fascinating fact that if you ask any fan, they’ll be able to name not
only members of the ‘Killer Krew’ but the people mentioned by the band in the
liner notes of their albums to give thanks. Vicky Kostura, Aky Naajeb, Charlie Kail
and his brilliant constructions, Dicky Bell, Waren Poope, Bill Barclay, Steve Gadd,
Rob Price, Bill Leibowitz, Vic Vella… sound familiar? Of course, and for a simple
reason – Rod Smallwood and Andy Taylor are known as one of the most dynamic
management duos in the music business, and while many will say that Rod
Smallwood is a difficult man, hard, even harsh in his dealings with people, there’s
one thing no one will ever call into question: his loyalty. When Rod loves
someone, that love is until death, and he’ll protect them by any means necessary.
This fanatical love for the band resulted in the careful selection of collaborators
whom Iron Maiden would keep on for all these years. Though, it’s true that some
of these people left Iron Maiden behind with a slightly bitter taste in their mouths
– Ross Halfin, Derek Riggs, Dave Lights, Dug Hall, Steve Lazarus… a direct
consequence of Rod’s massive loyalty to the band (though some will say his
loyalty is to the pay checks). It’s also true that Iron Maiden are bigger than ever
today, but there’s not a fan alive who doesn’t wonder what they’d be like if all the
people who were key to their development and great success had stuck around
permanently. Even now, years after their departures, they’re still an integral part
of the Maiden community, beloved by fans who still maintain contact, swap
information and appreciate their contribution to the band, the legacy of what Rod
Smallwood and the band have planted in our genetic makeup. I’ve known plenty
of equally fanatical fans of other bands and performers, but I’ve rarely
encountered a community this connected as can be felt with Iron Maiden fans.
This unity has evolved over time into the illusion and the mantra that we’re all
‘blood brothers’ as the famous lyric says, that Maiden and especially the ‘Killer
Krew’ are family, unbreakable and in that – united.

In a way, the ‘Killer Krew’ has been romanticised as an unbreakable team from
Maiden’s earliest days to today, a small and coordinated team of people that has
had little turnover through the decades, superior to other world road crews. Is
that really the case? Well known to everyone as the author of a great book – ‘The
Iron Maiden Years’, as seen in the previous page’s photo – Steve ‘Loopy’
Newhouse has spoken to me many a time about things connected to the early
days of the band. Looking on as a layman, from the album credits he was just
another regular drum tech, but anyone who knows him personally or has read his
book will understand that he was so much more than that, and that Maiden owe

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their success to him and many other seemingly ‘little people’ whose names aren’t
in lights and who aren’t mentioned in official biographies, but who did everything
they could for the band in key moments when few others really believed in them.
Steve Newhouse is one of the original members of the ‘Killer Krew’ and he was
happy to answer a few of my questions about the earliest days and the creation
of this legendary group of people.

'Killer Krew' laminated pass and part of the 'Killers' personalized tour jacket.

Talking about the earliest formation of the ‘Killer Krew’, Loopy doesn’t mention
Rod Smallwood, even though he is usually credited as the original member of the
group in official publications. According to Loopy, the original ‘Killer Krew’
consisted of Vic Vella, Dave Lights, Peter Bryant and himself. As for the name of
the crew, he says “I think our name was chosen by Rod, or Steve, before the first

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album. I could be wrong.” When I asked Keith Wilfort and Dave Lights the same
question, the response was pretty much identical. ‘Killer Krew’ is certainly not
connected to the concept of the ‘Killers’ album, but a name decided upon earlier
and certainly something that may have served to name the album – if there’s a
‘Killer Krew’ then why not have an album named ‘Killers’? When asked if there
was an initiation of any kind for joining the team, Steve answered in his typical
manner “Yeah! You had to be an idiot to work those hours, ha, ha… No, no
initiation. If someone left, they had to be replaced, usually by the tour manager.”
Asked how people remain loyal to a band for so long, was it loyalty, friendship,
the pay, something else, Steve said this: “I think it was easy to remember. The
crew has totally changed over the years, and although, most of the original crew
are still in touch with the band. None of us still work for them. But we are all still
alive. Colin Price has been there since just after I left and Michael Kenney has been
there since we went on the Metal for Muthas Tour in 1980.”

Any serious band has a tour manager while traveling, and in a way, he’s the boss
of the rest of the crew, whatever the band. However, the crew members are like
construction workers, miners or any other group of people who work hard, but
always find time for fun, pranks, spending time together outside the workplace,
while some develop a special internal language where a ‘wink’ is immediately
understood, they develop their own internal routines, jokes and nicknames for
the bosses. What did the hierarchy of the ‘Killer Krew’ look like? “Without a tour
or production manager these days, most shows would fall apart. When we first
started doing shows, Vic was our main man. Then he became the bands driver and
Adrian Enfield-Bance took over, and after that it was Tony Wiggens. So, we were
always in good hands, in that respect. We always had a laugh, simply because of
the difference in characters. We played tricks on each other all the time, like Dave
Lights putting an old rusty chain in Vic's bed. When Vic got into bed he thought
there was a snake in his bed and panicked. We never had a special language, as
the crew got bigger, there was new people from different nationalities joining, the
first of which was Michael Winter from France.”

All the people who worked for Maiden and left the ‘Killer Krew’ did so with the
reputation of top crew members in the music industry, which made it very easy
for them to find new employment in those circles. But four of the original
members remained connected forever, even when they stopped working for
Maiden. Steve told me they don’t have a Facebook group or any other means

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of communicating on social media, yet they still talk on a regular basis and
remain good friends. Some of them have remained in the same business to this
day, while others left as early as the 1980s. “For the original four of us, I went
forward working with other bands and ended up with a stage crew in London.
Dave Lights carried on in the business too, working for UFO and a few others.
Vic quit the live work in 1980 and looked after things at Steve's house in
Woodford, then later in Harlow. And Pete quit completely in 1980 and became
a fireman, retiring 3 years ago. Doug Hall is still a sound engineer, both with live
work and studio, and Michael Kenney is still there, as already mentioned.“

When I asked Loopy how it was travelling with the band from the very
beginnings and whether they stayed at the same hotels as the band or
elsewhere, he replied: “Different hotels all the time. The band know what
pressure from fans is like, so they protect the crew by putting them somewhere
else. Usually, the crew will stay on the bus and go to the next show. The band
fly in later. It was similar back in my day.” This is an extremely hard job, and
carries a lot of responsibility, always ‘on the edge’ meaning crew members need
to be on their toes at every moment. In his book, Loopy described several pretty

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dangerous situations like a lighting rig snapping in Carlisle. Luckily, it happened


before the concert and was quickly resolved. It’s the good memories that have
stuck, though. “All I can add is, it was a fun life, and I enjoyed every bit of it, even
my constant problem with Clive. Thing is, everyone knew what Clive was up to,
but nobody told me. I find that a bit upsetting. But they did bring me back when
Clive left, so it show's they wanted me there. They are still a great band, and
always friendly to me when we meet up.”

Why did I want to touch on the ‘Killer Krew’ in this book? No matter that the
name ties them to this album, this little group of four ‘nutter’ roadies already
existed before it, and have grown into such an institution that they and their
roles in the band, their uses and replacements and anecdotes from being in
the field warrants more than one chapter but a whole, fat book. Maybe this
chapter is the first step of just such a journey, to a grand and huge project of
contacting hundreds of people to talk to.

On the day this book was finished, the world had spent almost a full year in
the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as things stand now it’s likely that
all big concerts and festivals tentatively scheduled for 2021 are being pushed
back to 2022. This means we won’t have the opportunity to see Iron Maiden
live for at least another year, something unimaginable both for them and the
fans at this stage. Moreover, time is no longer on their side and every lost
year is felt more keenly. The band has plenty of resources to live on –
royalties, merch, and so on, as to the management and those people directly
involved in the Iron Maiden business. However, the crew and technicians who
support the concert machine are going through difficult times. It’s not just
Iron Maiden not playing live, no one is, nothing is happening, and many
people who have given their lives over to the difficult life of a roadie are
suffering, after sacrificing other potential careers in spite of their work looking
romantic and fun to the rest of us. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of these
people, hardworking and circumspect, who stand out of range of the cameras
and stage lights. I hope we’ll get to see Maiden live again and enjoy their
unbeatable concerts, but for that to happen, we need all these ‘invisible’
people. One of the longest serving members of the ‘Killer Krew’, Michael
Kenney gave an interview in 2005 to darrellmillar.com for that site’s ‘Road
Crew Live’ section and did his best to illustrate how the dream started by
Steve Harris and the lads in the 1970s looks in the new millennium, to be

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joined by Smallwood and Andy, and Loopy, Lights, Vella and Bryant, then
Wilfort, Riggs and the rest – and how the turned it into the biggest rock and
roll show in the world. Take a look at an excerpt:

“I would like to take the opportunity to give proper due to my colleagues at


arms. No man is a crew, and there are a LOT of people that make Iron Maiden
happen. I present to you this tour's version of the infamous Killer Krew: Ian
Day has been the tour manager for the last few tours; everybody seems to
know Dayo... he gets around. Steve Gadd, Nicko's tech for a long time,
graduated to asst. tour manager (he also does a lot of TM work). He was the
drummer of the band 'Charlie'. Dicky Bell has been at the forefront of
Maiden's production, in one form or another, than longer than any of us care
to remember. We've got him back out on the road as PM for the first time in
years. [I'm not sure who I feel sorrier for- us or him. ;-)] Legendary...("Get your
hands out of your pockets!") Rebecca Storey, who was with Bjork for 12 years
(! I bet that's an interesting gig.), is our new production assistant. She has to
put up with Dicky Bell. (You tell 'im, mum!)

Bill Conte is back with us this year as stage manager. He had a run with us in
the 90's in a number of guises: rigger, lampy, props... Doug Hall, the front of
house sound man, and I came to England together to work for the sound
company that first put us with Maiden (Muscle Music). He has been there for
every gig since 1980, more than I can say. I believe the quality he works at is
some to do with why Maiden is where they are. He has also been doing Deep
Purple, Testament and others. Mike Hackman is our system engineer of a few
years. He keeps the EAW's in line... Steve 'Gonzo' Smith has been our monitor
man since '90something. Other times, he's UB40's FOH guy. Top bloke! (and
good bass player/singer in his own right, not that he does it much these days.)
When he first arrived, Steve Harris came over and said, "He's done this before."

Ian 'Squid' Walsh is Gonzo's slave (;-), and generally incredibly handy guy.
Besides looking after monitor world, doing support monitors if needed, wiring
the stage for power and mic lines, etc., he watches Bruce (and others), does
bass changes for me when I'm playing, even techs me in a pinch...thanks,
Squid! The back line lads are vets from the last couple of tours, 'big' Sean
Brady and Andy Ball, Adrian Smith and Dave Murray's techs, respectively, and
new guys Charlie Charlesworth and Kevin Papworth are looking after Nicko

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McBrain and Janick Gers. They all have a lot under their belts....recently, all
but Andy have been the 'Lost Prophets' assault squad for world domination. A
serious cast of characters, as are all... Big Sean keeps me grounded as to what
this job is. Andy shows me how it can be. Charlie walks even faster than me
when I'm in a hurry; incredible determination to job at hand, and has the evil
eye ;-). (AC/DC!!). If Kev keeps having so much fun we're gonna have to start
charging him admission. Paul Stratford, the Prince of Darkness, big man- and
not just in size- Ashley Groom (also an ace bass player) and climbing Irish Phil
Stewart are the set team. They are busy chaps. Ash has a special function.

Martin Brennan has been our lighting designer since Virtual XI. He wasn't able
to do the first part of this tour, so Paul 'PK' Kell (Jethro Tull for 20 years) was
at the spot. Martin has rejoined us. Welcome back! The lampy crew on this
festival run is Steve Hall and Bill (Frosty) Frostman. Steve has become a
regular (though there's not much regular about him ;-), and we know Frosty
from before, as well. Daniel Ivory-Castile is our pyro guy this tour. I don't
expect his kids think this is as cool as the Tweenies. ;-) Dale Easom is the new
security man. Nice guy- I don't think I want to piss him off...

Peter Lokrantz is out this time strictly for his Swedish massage expertise. He
has also been part of our security team over many years past...aka - the mad
Swede (his words.) Natasha de Sampayo is our wonderful wardrobe lady of
the last few years - can anyone actually smile that much? :-) Willie
Whitelow, our very Scottish swag man from Bravado merchandising this tour;
it's rumoured that language he speaks is English. ;-) We know him well.

Johnny Burke is our IT guy, photographer, videographer, all things mac, no


dairy products please; used to be with Def Leppard... Ollie Davis-Gardner
- intern pro tools guy. 18, first time out. Steve Harris' daughter's boyfriend.
(Oh boy, is he in trouble. ;-) Hard worker, good kid, does his job and more.
When we pick up our own sound and lights, ML and Neg Earth supply them.
Noise boys are our old boffin friend, head of security and Jonno Dunlop. N/E
sends Richard Armstrong, Bob Batty ("Eeehhh-xxcellent!"), 'Goat' Hayden
Corps and Luke Radin. They often get holidays while we are off doing
festivals...For the beginning of the tour we had caterers Collette Shryane,
Natalie Parkinson, Kais D'Arragi and Gemma Hammond from Eat to the Beat.
Now that we're mostly doing festivals we use local. Our main bus drivers

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are Dave Good and Michael Prackweiser. Like I said, nice busses, good driving
(no pun intended). Other drivers (sound/lights/catering and doubles) have
been Rick Brammell, Trevor McCudden, Sven Schendel, Hans Schneider,
Michael Dean (Big Clive) [my middle name is Dean!], Lucas Speckbacher...The
freight arm of our transport division is made up of Kevin Barnes (Barney),
Craig Jones (Rooster), Robert Brinkmann (Flip), Rachel Shadwick, Dave Ooms,
Hendrik De Graff and no doubt a few others from Trans Am Trucking
and Pieter Smits.

From the Sanctuary office, Dave Pattenden joins us most weekends to liaise
for management (video production), as does Val Janes (marketing/publicity)
on occasion. Johnnie Allen is our minister of procurement for all things gear
related and other...he knows everybody, and is invaluable. Thanks for all of
your assistance, Johnnie- it is much appreciated! (no pic, sorry...). Peter
DeVroom and Jackie DaCosta handle the money (pay us!); they come out to
visit sometimes (minus their usual business attire). Ralph Hutchings is our
warehouse guy/white van man. When we're gearing up, you can count on
Ralph to be traipsing all over England, getting equipment from A to B, then on
to C, taking stuff back to A, except for the stuff that has to go to D...;-) He
toured with Sean on Fields of the Nephilim in '88. I think the Maiden crew has
always been one of the most highly regarded in touring, and I am honoured
to be a part of it. This version is one of the best ever. It's a big show, and we
can get it onstage at a festival in short order- a well-oiled (! ;-) machine. We
are friends and have a lot of fun. Support acts thank us.”

I believe this description of how the ‘Killer Krew’ functions was a fantastic
intro to the big machine known as Iron Maiden, so you’d understand how
many people work for what we all love and what makes our lives happier. This
list was from 2005, but the crew is only more massive today, and it’s
unbelievable when we realize that there were only four of them to begin with,
that they’re still friends after almost half a century, proud of what they left
behind. If I ever get the chance, I would really love to tell the story of these
people, who have inspired me in many aspects. When I had the initial idea to
write a book about Iron Maiden in 2008, many things seemed impossible.
Today, writing is my profession and livelihood, and these inspiring stories are
part of what got me where I am today.

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I'M COMING TO GET YOU


The previous page of this book contains an unusual certificate, one that has
been unknown to me and most Maiden fans for all these years. The disc with
its description is much smaller in reality, but I’ve increased its size here for
easier reading. In short, ‘Killers’ is the first Iron Maiden album that was
licenced and published as an album in former Yugoslavia, a country many see
as part of the Eastern Bloc, and behind the Iron Curtain, although it was never
there in the same way as countries like Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and
so on. The album ‘Iron Maiden’ somehow passed under the radar of the
national record label, Jugoton of Zagreb (Croatia Records today), whose
performers sold tens of millions of albums on that territory alone. At the time
‘Killers’ was released worldwide, bands from Yugoslavia like Bijelo Dugme
(rock), Atomsko Sklonište (hard rock/metal), Divlje Jagode (hard rock/metal)
were selling equal numbers if not bigger than Maiden in this limited territory
alone. No wonder that Maiden were forced to play as the second most
important band at the ‘Svi marš na ples’ festival in Belgrade (in spite of being
invited as promising foreign guests who had a lot of young fans in Yugoslavia),
their first foray into the eastern or south-eastern countries that resulted in no
less than a platinum record for sales of the first album they released on this
territory – Croatia, but the award covered the entire country. Take into
account that the band has been popular here ever since and that ‘Book of
Souls’ also achieved a gold record, that all their concerts here have drawn
large crowds, it’s quite clear that the gold ‘Killers’ was no accident but a logical
fact. And yet, no one knew about this certificate until Rod Smallwood decided
to donate his copy to charity and a photo was published on an auction house
website.

As I knew the general manager of Jugoton quite well and I know the one in
charge today, I immediately tried to find out whether they still keep their
copy, which would be logical – as well as why this fantastic fact for a then-
barely known little band from England disappeared from the radar and wasn’t
discovered until now. The fact that ‘little’ Iron Maiden were selling in such
numbers in Yugoslavia while other, bigger names closer to the mainstream
were failing to do the same should have been a fantastic moment that

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foretold that their golden years were just ahead, and that great success would
follow.

When I asked both men about this, and whether they recall anything about
Iron Maiden – and possibly have their own copy of the gold record stored
somewhere, I was surprised to get a negative response. Many things have
gone with the wind in the meantime, and Maiden were less than important
at the time, so few remember it. Jugoton, or Croatia Records as it has
rebranded, was the biggest regional record label, a giant in these territories
as far as the music industry was concerned. In addition to their own stars,
Jugoton held the publishing rights for high quality releases of international
labels like EMI, Decca, RCA and so on, and in addition to Iron Maiden they also
published some eminent names like T-Rex, David Bowie, Elton John, Paul
McCartney and Wings, Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Deep
Purple, Eurythmics, Kate Bush, Kraftwerk, Queen, U2, Neil Young, Prince,
Madonna, Ramones, Simple Minds, The Stranglers, Nirvana…

What should be taken into account is the fact that international pop stars of
the time like Queen, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, etc. sold
ridiculous numbers that weren’t in tune with their significance and current
demand. Moreover, a below average folk or pop singer from the region
tended to have higher sales than these people. Values and demand were
turned over multiple times, so Iron Maiden’s ‘Piece of Mind’ sold just 22 965
copies by the middle of 1984, AC/DC’s ‘Let There Be Rock’ sold 19 941 copies,
Queen’s ‘The Greatest Hits’ sold 19 639, The Rolling Stones’ ‘Exile on Main
Street’ sold 19 210, and The Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ sold 9 093 copies. On the
other hand, Ottavan’s ‘The Best Of’ sold 99 577 copies, the ‘Latin Disco Show’
cover album sold 88 288, but the top spot went to Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’,
who passed 112 504 copies sold by mid-1984. Of the heavier acts, AC/DC were
the bestsellers with ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap’ which sold 69 652 copies.
Why am I telling you this? Allow me to first present you with the top list of
the bestselling international acts in Yugoslavia for the period from
01/01/1982+60/06/1984.

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As you can see, Iron Maiden are 39th on the list with a total of 37 871 sold
records for 'The Number of the Beast' and ‘Piece of Mind’. Their first release
in Yugoslavia was ‘Killers’ – the album ‘Iron Maiden’ was never released here
even retroactively, with cassettes also sold from ‘Powerslave’ onwards, with
the exception of ‘Live After Death’ which got both an LP and video release but
no cassette. In this period, 'The Number of the Beast' had sold a mere 15
thousand or so copies.

As this research didn’t look at records for 1981, ‘Killers’ sales and the key
moment of the album’s release aren’t on the list, nor is the year in which they
sold the most copies – over 50 000! That’s right, to earn a gold record, Iron
Maiden had to sell more than 50 000 copies of their record. Jugoton was too
serious a company to fake something like this. But how is it possible that
‘Killers’ sold so much better than ‘Piece of Mind’, almost double in fact, and
more than both ‘Piece of Mind’ and 'The Number of the Beast' together?
‘Killers’ was released at the start of 1981. The licenced release came to
Yugoslavia sometime later and someone with vision pushed it to this market
in the belief that this new, exciting genre of heavy metal music in combination
with an excellent cover might be a hit. And – they were right. The album was
noticed, the papers of the time gave it a few interesting reviews… but that
wouldn’t have helped such great sales happen. It did help something else…

When the band Atomsko Sklonište were dropped as the main focus of the big
open air concert that was being planned, with giants Bijelo Dugme pushed
into their place, ‘jumping in’ like chameleons on the trendy train and
abandoning their classic rock sound for new-wave ska bops for the new
generation of young rebels, the fans began a boycott and the resulting low
ticket sales meant that someone had to step in and save the day – invite an
international act, not someone too expensive, but interesting enough to get
things moving again. Iron Maiden found themselves in the right place at the
right time. The biggest Yugoslavian label released their second album and
even the only single ever to be released in the country: ‘Twilight Zone’, the
band went on tour and gained enough popularity to become interesting to
both the media and the fans. After visits from several hard rock acts this was
supposed to be the first real heavy metal concert in Yugoslavia – and it was.
With regional bands like Divlje Jagode and Atomsko Sklonište, who would
release their best-selling albums the following year, just like Iron Maiden,

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winning diamond records for both, despite the organisational and technical
deficiencies, this festival was the biggest possible advertisement for metal
music and metal concerts. I have no data for how many copies of the album
were actually printed in the first run, but after the festival they had sold out
by the end of September. The album sold so many copies even the label
people were surprised. I’m guessing the first run didn’t pass 20 000 copies, as
it would have been hard to expect that a first release for a band on this market
would sell more than that, so the second run wasn’t marked with the bird-
shaped gold record that Jugoton usually put on the covers. The album
remained unmarked, so no one could have noticed what Maiden had
achieved here in such a short time.

Jugoton’s gold label printed on album covers

On some records the symbol would be found only on the reprint, while on
others it was printed immediately if the powers-that-be were counting on
high sales numbers. However, Iron Maiden were a dark horse. As Paul Di’Anno
left the band mere days after the Belgrade performance, many fans who’d
been fascinated with their gig and had run to buy the record were less than

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impressed, and even their announced gig for the ‘Beast on the Road’ tour was
later cancelled despite being booked and the t-shirts printed, and 'The
Number of the Beast' didn’t do particularly well in terms of sales. It would go
on to sell better later on. On top of that, the decision was made in 1982 that
every subsequent album would be printed in 30 000 copies, LPs only, and
there would be no reprints even if the record sold out. It was simply not felt
that Maiden could sell more or do better with their new releases. Performers
like Paul McCartney, David Bowie and Culture Club were predicted to sell
bigger numbers and therefore 50 000 copies of their albums were printed,
while others like Mike Oldfield, Kim Wilde and Bob Marley weren’t expected
to surpass 20 000 copies and U2 not even that, with just 10 000 copies
predicted to sell. Ultimately, going forward bands missed out on what might
have been big sales several times over. All copies of Iron Maiden albums sold
out but as no reprints were allowed, their later albums were unable to reach
the coveted gold certificate and the silver wasn’t often awarded. In 1984, the
rules had to be revised again and more copies would be printed in future, in
addition to the new and better-selling cassettes that now flooded the market.

What happened in 1981 and 1984 in Yugoslavia for Iron Maiden to experience
this leap in both sales and popularity? Their concerts, of course – and that’s
the point of this whole final chapter of my book. Yugoslavia is not important
here, it’s merely the country of my birth, where I’ve lived and where I
understand the circumstances better than those of other countries, but even
a cursory glance at the dates Maiden played in certain places and subsequent
sales records will give you the same statistics.

To unravel more mysteries, it’s interesting that old newspapers contain the fact
that at the beginning of the ‘Somewhere on Tour’, again in Yugoslavia, a
delegation of label representatives awarded the band new certified records,
which again didn’t contain any symbol and are unavailable and unknown on
Discogs and in the collector community – as this one would not have been
known if Rod Smallwood hadn’t offered it up in a charity auction. If 'The
Number of the Beast' and ‘Piece of Mind’ were limited to just 30 000 copies
each, the certified sales could have been only for ‘Powerslave’ and/or ‘Live After
Death’, so what was the tipping point to make that happen? Again and again –
Maiden’s once in a lifetime concerts, which were anything but ordinary, paint-
by-numbers jobs done with failing equipment and bad stage production.

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Fans knew how to appreciate this, and even when mistakes by the organizers
meant the conditions for a normal, standard concert weren’t being met, Iron
Maiden blew it out of the water through their sheer energy. As you can see
on one of the tour shirts, Yugoslavia wasn’t planned for this tour, and knowing
the circumstances of how the concert even happened, it’s clear that shirts
printed in advance couldn’t mention countries that came into focus in this
way. But at the time, led by their brilliant management team, Maiden had no
time to stop and think. They seized every opportunity, fearlessly went into
the unknown and even at the start of their career they were ready to break
barriers. The USA, Canada and Japan were a great expansion plan, but the
chance to peek behind the Iron Curtain isn’t something you turn down.

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Iron Maiden always had a nose for sniffing out the right decision at the right time,
and they never waited for a second offer or a better opportunity. I’m quite sure
that they were well aware of the conditions that might be waiting for them in
Yugoslavia in that moment, yet still they came… the challenge was simply too big.
Rod Smallwood never calculated too much in matters like these, and trips to the
unknown were always almost a dare. If Iron Maiden hadn’t come to Central
Europe then, their triumphant return in the mid-80s never wold have been as
successful. They created their own foundations for the success that followed.

They did the same thing with their early trip to Japan and documented it with
multiple photoshoots and, of course, the release of the legendary ‘Maiden Japan’
EP, which wasn’t just an announcement to the world to say hey, we’re already big
enough and well-known that they want us to headline concerts in Japan, but the
cutesy play on words in the EP title – in light of their new collaboration with
producer Martin Birch – was bait for the Deep Purple fans who were feverishly
searching for something new, something exciting to connect to in between
Purple’s releases of ‘Come, Taste the Band’ in 1975 and ‘Perfect Strangers’ in
1984, when the band was on a temporary hiatus. It was said ‘if Martin Birch is
involved, it must be good’ – and Maiden expertly turned this to their advantage.

The same thing happened with the USA market and partially in Canada. As early
as their second album release, Maiden were offered a chance they jumped at
with open arms, going ‘across the pond’ for no more nor less than forty concerts
as special guests of Judas Priest. Already, the posters announcing them used
their logo and occasionally even the visual of Eddie from the ‘Killers’ cover, and
the media was paying a certain amount of attention following their concerts
with Judas Priest, hinting that not long would pass before big things would start
to happen. Just a year later, Iron Maiden would play more than 100 concerts in
the same region, and in the years to follow that number rose drastically – and
the venues they now headlined became ever larger.

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This success wasn’t the result of radio plays, PR activities and trends of the
moment. Iron Maiden were a live monster, one that devours everything before it
and skips the steps to the top. The only right and proper way to spread
information about an exciting new band from London was by word of mouth,
through direct testimony from the gigs, and Maiden never failed in that segment.
Say what you want about Paul Di’Anno and you’ll probably be right in your own
way, but it’s an undeniable fact that he truly knew how to channel the band’s
energy directly into the audience, at one point stating: “I'm a punk musician, a
punk singer, but I can do heavy metal better than most heavy metal singers.”

Internet, 5G networks, smartphones. One click will take you anywhere, to any
band in any place in the world, and technology has advanced to where any band
today can sound like they recorded at a state of the art studio in the 1980s. I won’t
even get started on videos, because the tech and ways in which a demo band
today can make a video are things that 80s megastars could only dream about.

So… What went wrong? Why has no UK metal band formed post 1995 been
able to break through in my little country and why can’t they sell out 300-
capacity clubs? Why and how do these bands maintain the illusion of success
and large fanbases through photos and videos from festivals – the only places
they can get that kind of material? An old proverb says that a war is never
over until a military boot has covered all the ground. Forget the bombs, the
grenades and the pilotless drones. Transfer this great truth to the music
industry and you’ll see the same conclusion. For a full twenty-six years, at a
time when cheap flights from the UK (or anywhere else) to Croatia are
available, few bands have dared to take that risk, come, play and go home in
triumph, and fewer still have done so more than once or twice. Iron Maiden
earned their planetary popularity with bloody, backbreaking work, by going
among the people… and before they’d even released their debut album they
had hundreds of gigs behind them, playing for ‘peanuts’. Unless a band like
that appears in the UK, a band that won’t wait for miracles and success to find
them in front of their computer screen, a band that will set off like Maiden to
colonise and conquer every hidden corner of the world, rock and roll as we
know it will die off – and Iron Maiden had a message for the world then…

'Cause I'm a wrathchild, Yeah, I'm a wrathchild


Yeah, I'm a wrathchild, I'm coming to get you, ooh, yeah, yeah

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PHOTO AND LYRICS CREDITS

I have received some of the private photos (from shows, etc.) from the
interviewees via e-mail, or have been given permission to download them
from their Facebook pages and use them in this book. Although I have always
insisted on getting the author's name, sometimes it was unclear who took the
photo during a show or other occasion. In such cases, I have credited the
owner of the photo in good faith, to the best extent of my knowledge. I always
aimed in this book to respect the author's intellectual proprety and state a
photo's true author.

Most of the images used in the book are from my private collection or
courtesy of the people I’ve interviewed. All of them gave me permission to
use some of the images originally posted on their personal Facebook or
Twitter profiles or from their websites. I have asked for permission to use
each of them and if the author should be mentioned. Also, most of the images
are more of private than public character. Those which don’t have captions
are explained in this list, sorted by page number:

Page 67 – Kerrang! Magazine, 1st issue


Page 135 – 'Maiden March' reel to reel track
Page 176 – 'Svi marš na ples' festival – Press report
Page 186 – Atomasko Sklonište – Croatian band
Page 232 – ‘Killer Krew’ from Iron Maiden tour book
Page 234 – Steve 'Loopy Newhouse'
Page 244 – Iron Maiden golden certificate by Jugoton

Large number of PR Photos together with press releases and press clippings
for this book I received from Iron Maiden fans and collectors and my
collaborators with their permission to use. Huge thank you to all of them.
Posters, illustrations, visuals, postards, tour programmes, ad design, t-shirt
and merchandise design courtesy of Iron Maiden.

Fragments of Iron Maiden Lyrics - courtesy of Zomba Music Publishig Ltd.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This book wouldn’t have seen the light of day, hadn’t it been for the immense
and complete support from the members of both the Croatian Iron Maiden
fan club and the Iron Maiden online club. I have created this book thanks in
part to their advice, questions, suggestions and guidelines and I hope the final
product will please them all.

I would like to thank every person whom I’ve interviewed, including those
who decided not to extend me that courtesy. Thanks to my parents and my
brother for their patience, Ana Marija Abramović for translating this book into
English. Thanks to Christian Sorkalla, Alex Yakovlev, Matthew Ward for all
thoughts and advices and also thanks to Heiko Rödl and Rasmus Stawnsborg
and many other fans for their contribution with Maiden memorabilia pictures.
I also owe my gratitude to Violeta Juras for her unbeliveable creative
contribution in book design, layout job and packing. She is also my good spirit
behind all orders and shipping activities. Thank you (last, but not least) to ITG
stuff for for their very important help.

Finally, a big thank you to every member of Iron Maiden, past and present,
and every person who ever worked for the band. Keep doing the greatest job
in the world. We, the fans, will always support you!

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Croatian Iron Maiden fan club; www.maidencroatia.com

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